


The Type I Hate Most

by SimplySunney



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23597923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplySunney/pseuds/SimplySunney
Summary: Oikawa hated geniuses. That in itself was obvious to anyone who knew him. He could never grow to stand the idea that something so hard for him would come naturally to another person who was just born with the talent. Yet, despite his hate for them, he somehow found himself in situations like this, with people like you--a genius. And it was in these type of situations where he truly remembered: you are the type he hates the most.
Relationships: Oikawa Tooru/Reader
Comments: 51
Kudos: 191





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> __  
>  If you would like to listen to the story's playlist while reading, click [here!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5kqjEHlWbOklJpGBR9ZA6h?si=HDkAypDgR4aQiTDXS8GRcg) Thanks sooo much for reading! ❤   
> 

Oikawa hated geniuses. That in itself was obvious to anyone who knew him. Oikawa hated how some people could learn what would take him __weeks__ in a matter of __days__ , and he hated people who worked half as hard for better results. He felt like competing against a genius was like racing someone who could freely sprint while he bore weights. 

But what irritated himthe most were the geniuses who acted stubbornly hardworking, as if they didn’t __know__ they were geniuses. He much preferred the pretentious assholes who at least acknowledged how easy they had it—they weren’t as big of a threat to him. It was the geniuses that continuously looked forward and outdid __everyone__ without even recognizing it. It was people like that who really pissed him off. But, of course, there was a more obvious, underlying reason to why geniuses truly irritated him so much...And it was simply because hewasn’t one.

Oikawa was talented, yes. He knew how to apply himself in such a way to where he would get the best results, but it sure as hell wasn’t easy. He found it incredibly frustrating how the years of work he had put into practicing and bettering himself in volleyball was quickly being mirrored by Karasuno’s first-year, Kageyama Tobio. He hated to think about how by the time the young setter became a third-year, he would have not only caught up with Oikawa but probably long since surpassed him. But at least he really only had to worry about Tobio when a tournament was approaching. Currently, Oikawa was vexed with another problem… 

“Iwa-chan, please!” Oikawa begged his burly friend who held an irritated frown on his face. “Why can’t __you__ just tutor me?”

Iwaizumi’s emerald gaze narrowed at the captain. “Because you’re the way that you are, that’s why,” he stated simply. Oikawa pouted at this.

“Well, I can’t go back to (y/n) again because of the way that __she__ is,” the setter irritably grumbled.

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. “You’re probably just as big of a pain in the ass to her as she is to you,” he retorted. “If not more so.”

“Whose side are you even on?” Oikawa muttered, crossing his arms and sending his friend an accusing glare.

“Nobody’s,” he immediately answered. “I’m just being honest.”

“Well I am too!” Oikawa exclaimed as he grabbed a ball from the basket next to him and sent a toss over Iwaizumi. There was a second of silence before the thunderous clap of Seijou’s ace hitting the ball echoed throughout the gymnasium.

“A little higher,” Iwaizumi spoke, backing away from the net once again.

Oikawa grabbed another ball and adjusted himself before sending the second toss. Again there was pause, and then the eruption of the hit. Iwaizumi seemed pleased this time, unintentionally prompting the captain to carry on with his previous spiel.

“She’s honestly the most irritating girl I know,” Oikawa continued. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes at this. “No, seriously!” Oikawa insisted. “Like Tobio-level annoying.”

His teammate snorted. “Wow, that’s pretty bad,” he dryly remarked.

Oikawa narrowed his eyes at the ace. “The point is,” he started, “is that I can’t be tutored by her anymore. I don’t want to.”

“Listen to yourself,” Iwaizumi spoke with a shake of his head. “You sound like a kid. There will always be people that you won’t get along with, but you’re going to have to anyway. Welcome to the real world.” 

“…Are you an old man?” Oikawa grumbled, mostly to himself. He had to jump to dodge a ball that showed his remark hadn’t gone unheard.

“She’s the best tutor you could currently ask for, Tooru,” Iwaizumi stated matter-of-factly, arming himself with another ball. “You’re just so caught up with your own prejudice that you aren’t giving her the time of day.”

Oikawa stared at his tanned friend with a stubborn frown plastered on face. He was probably right, but he didn’t really want to admit to that fact. At least not right now.

“I __guess__ I’ll continue with it then,” the setter finally stated with a complacent shrug. “But I’ll tell you right now—I’m going to pass that test with flying colors.” 

“You should probably start spending more than one day being tutored then, don’t you think?” Iwaizumi suggested. Oikawa made a face at the ace’s proposal.

“And miss practice? I’m the captain, you know,” the brunette setter stubbornly crossed his arms.

“Exactly,” Iwaizumi stated with the roll of his eyes. “You’re going to miss __a lot__ more practice if you fail that test and get suspended. Weigh your options.”

There was a moment’s pause before Oikawa let out an audible sound of dismay. “I hate when you’re right!” he groaned.

“You must hate me a lot then,” Iwaizumi coolly added as he moved to go gather the remainder of the volleyballs littering the court.

Oikawa made a face and chucked a ball at him, hitting the ace’s back and causing him to turn menacingly towards the setter. Oikawa’s hands immediately shot up in defeat and apologies spewed from his mouth, but they didn’t stop the barrage of volleyballs that began to assault him as he ran. 

“Mercy! Mercy!” he screamed while jumping to avoid impact. He yelped out in pain as the volleyballs began to pummel onto him one by one. Some of the underclassmen appeared through the doorway with confused expressions that quickly changed to alarm as they comprehended the situation. They ran over to stop the ace, not knowing what Oikawa knew—Iwaizumi wasn’t actually mad, he just got some sick pleasure from hurting him.

“Iwa-chan, you’re paying for my medical bills,” the captain loudly complained, only to hear a patronizing snort in return.

. . .

The next day Oikawa found himself back where he had been every Monday for the last couple of weeks—Seijou’s library. The brunette irritably slumped down onto the desk before him, wishing he could be anywhere else and __with__ anyone else besides the person ahead of him, because across from him sat the most complicatedly tenacious female in existence.

He looked up from his slump to see (y/c) eyes glowering down at him. He forced his usual cheerful smile and sat back up straight.

Not only was she a natural genius in academics, but she was also socially inept. She took everything too seriously and was just draining to be around. And it wasn’t the fact that Oikawa just wasn’t used to females __not__ treating him like a god (as Iwaizumi stubbornly insisted), it was simply that __neither__ of them liked each other. At all. But, unfortunately, he needed to bear with her, because he needed her help studying, because __she__ was a genius. The kind of genius that pissed him off the most.

As staring eyes continued to bore onto him, he let out a sigh. “Something the matter, (Y/n)-chan?” he questioned while resting his head onto his hand that he held propped up.

There was a moment’s pause as she seemingly assessed him. “Did you finish the questions?” she finally asked.

“I’m just taking a little break,” he answered with a polite grin, but her eyes simply narrowed.

“Do you not get it still?”

The tone she used had Oikawa’s eyes narrowing in return.

“No, actually. Not yet,” he spoke while leaning back in his seat. “Unfortunately, we aren’t all blessed with brilliance like yours,” the brunette finished with a cutting smile.

“I’m not blessed with anything,” she retorted. “I work for what I want.”

Oikawa’s brow irritably twitched at this. People like her really were the worst.

“I think we’ve done enough today anyway,” he sighed, closing his notebook. “Let’s just pick up again next Monday.”

And he would be happily enjoying each day up until his inevitable return.

Her jaw clenched and she stared at him through judging eyes. “We don’t have a lot of time as it is. You already only want to meet once a week. You shouldn’t leave early without understanding the material.”

“But (y/n)-chan, I’m tired,” he complained while shooting her his habitual pout. “And this is the only day I get off practice, so that can’t be helped,” he finished with a shrug. He already had to skip out on coaching the kids at Lil Tykes in order to get tutored, and he wasn’t willing to skip practice just yet, despite what Iwaizumi told him the day before.

“Have you forgotten that you won’t even be able to __attend__ practice if you end up failing this next English test?” the girl questioned, seeming irritated by Oikawa’s indifferent attitude.

He glowered at this. Honestly, how could he forget? If there was a way to, he was definitely trying to figure it out.

“I’ll study more when I get home,” he dismissed her statement with a wave of his hand. Suddenly his eyes turned teasing and he found himself leaning over the desk, grinning at the girl before him. “I didn’t know you were so concerned for me, (y/n)-chan~” he practically sang out her name. “How reassuring.”

She rolled her eyes at this. “Coach Irihata even went as far as to personally ask my teacher that you be tutored. It would make me look bad if you ended up failing.”

Oikawa snorted. Of course that would be her concern. Not him actually learning or passing, but her reputation. Guess he couldn’t really blame her…But it still irritated him.

“I have every intention of passing,” Oikawa stated matter-of-factly.

“Is that so?” she mused. The sudden change in her tone had Oikawa raising his brow questioningly at her. “I’ll believe you,” she started while scribbling onto the paper below her. She lifted her pencil and seemed to read it over before sliding it in front of Oikawa, “if you can translate this.”

Oikawa’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, fine,” he practically scoffed before pulling the paper to himself.

So she wanted to try and outsmart him, huh? Maybe even try and sneak in a laugh at how incompetent she thought he was? Like he’d let her play that game.   
  
Oikawa stared at the sentence with a determined gaze.

The silence that soon fell over them seemed to amplify any and every noise in the library. There was the quiet rumble of the heater, the rustling of papers from the other side of the room, and the sound of a pen jotting across paper. Oikawa’s face burned as he felt the judging gaze of the girl ahead pierce him.

“’ _ _I’__ …” he uncomfortably started to read, his eyes squinting at the next word as if that would help him translate the meaning. “’ _ _I’__ …” he started again, biting his lip and tapping his foot. “’ _ _I__ ’…something with ‘ _ _people__ ’…’ _ _you’__. ‘ _ _More’__?”

His face felt scorched with the colors of his embarrassment. He really had no idea what it said.

Unwillingly, his brown gaze began to move up where he expected to face a sneering smile, followed by some crude remark. Instead there were furrowed brows and a small frown. To him, this was worse.

“Listen,” he started, releasing the paper and letting it clumsily fall back in front of the sullen girl. “Like I said before, I’ll study some more at home. I’m just tired today, okay? So can we be done now?” His tone is now blatantly annoyed; he was too embarrassed to even try and hide it. 

A long pause followed his outburst before her mouth opened again, slowly and suddenly speaking.

“ _ _’I hate people like you the most’.__ ”

“Excuse me?” Oikawa asked, taken aback by the sudden insult.

Her piercing stare showed no sign of letting up. “ _ _’I hate people like you the most’__ ,” she repeated, making sure to put emphasis on every word. “ _ _That’s__ what it says.”

With that, she gathered her belongings together and pushed herself away from the desk—leaving the paper behind and not even bothering with a farewell of any kind. Oikawa simply stared after her, seemingly dazed and baffled by her statement.

A sullen frown set onto his face. He reached for the paper and held it in front of him again, becoming annoyed by the fact that he still had trouble recognizing some of the words even after learning what it said.

That girl simply had a knack for pissing him off…

. . .

Oikawa had left the library in a fit, grumbling to himself and pulling out his phone to call Iwaizumi in his rage. He became even angrier when his call was sent straight to voicemail and left his friend a very heated message that he’d probably end up regretting later.

Back at home, Oikawa spent the remainder of his night studiously studying the material he hadn’t understood from the tutor session earlier that day—if it could even be called that. He still couldn’t believe how much of an ass (y/n) had been, making him look like an idiot while directly insulting him at the same time. Seriously, what was he supposed to do now? Show up to next Monday and act as if nothing had happened? He just didn’t want to have to deal with her anymore. Attending these ‘lessons’ every Monday was tedious and draining. He just wanted them to be over already…

And Oikawa was even more pissed because he knew what he had to do. It wasn’t something he necessarily __wanted__ to do, but that was beside the point, because he had to actually apply himself. That, and _ _probably__ spend more days being tutored besides only Monday. Which meant less time practicing, and more time dealing with (y/n)…For now.

But Iwaizumi was right, if he slacked off now, he’d only end up shooting himself in the foot. If he just sucked it up and got it over with, then the whole thing would just become a bad memory that he could finally put behind him…

He sighed to himself, knowing the next step he had to take would be to get in contact with (y/n). He wasn’t sure how he was going to do that, though. He didn’t have her number.

“Guess I just have to wait until tomorrow,” the setter sighed to himself before looking back down at his notes. This shit was seriously gibberish. There was no way he could understand this himself.   
  
He let out a groan and hit his head onto the desk. His phone started to ring, the ringtone playing signified that it was Iwaizumi. Oikawa groaned again, remembering the message he had left his friend earlier.

“Today just keeps getting better and better,” he disdainfully grumbled to himself.

. . .

The next day, Oikawa found himself in front of his tutor. To say (y/n) looked surprised to see him would be an understatement. You would think there was a ghost standing before her.

The volleyball captain had even went as far as to find where the girl ran off to during lunch (because he couldn’t bring himself to approach her in class before that). He found her sitting alone in the courtyard, getting ready to open her lunch before he had approached her.

The brunette refused to look the girl in the eyes. Instead, he looked every which way—stubborn frown etched on his face, arms crossed, and brow twitching.

“So, I guess we should meet more than once a week to study…” he grumbled.

She simply stared wide-eyed at him. Honestly, was it really __that__ surprising?

“Well?” Oikawa stubbornly asked.

This seemed to shake her from her spell. Her eyes blinked and she looked down at her lap, seeming confused. “Uh, yeah that would probably be better. What days did you have in mind?”

“Well, I figured I’d see what days you were available since, __technically__ , you’re the one helping me out…” He hadn’t really wanted to be this considerate towards her, but Iwaizumi stubbornly insisted (demanded).

This seemed to send another shock through her, the surprise blatant in her assessing gaze.

“Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s are best for me,” she finally confirmed.

“Alright,” Oikawa puffed. “I’ll let coach know then. But the library does close early on Friday’s, so we could go to my place instead,”—her face blatantly scrunched up at this—” _ _Or__ your place. Or wherever you want, I guess,” he finished, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. She just had to make everything difficult.

“I’ll let you know,” she answered, going back to unwrapping her lunch.

Oikawa stared at her observantly for a minute and then glanced around the empty courtyard. “Why are you eating out here by yourself?” he questioned. “Don’t you have friends to eat with?”

She noticeably flinched at this and slowly glowered up at him with flashing eyes. “Of course I have friends,” she grumbled with coloring cheeks.

His eyes lit with realization and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning. So that was her weakness, huh? 

“Really?” he mused, making a point to search all around the bench she sat at, even comically looking underneath. “Where are they then? Don’t tell me their invisible,” he teased. “Or are they just really tiny?”

Her jaw set and her eyes blazed with self-conscious fury. “They don’t go here,” she gritted out.

“Ahh,” he practically cooed. “Is that so?”

“Why don’t you mind your own business,” the girl irritably grumbled while opening her lunchbox and angrily popping a grape into her mouth. The way she aggressively chewed at the poor thing made Oikawa snort with laughter.

“It’s okay that you don’t have any friends, (y/n)-chan,” he mockingly assured her, sitting himself down beside her and wrapping an arm around her stiffened body. “You can eat lunch with me from now on! I’m sure Iwa-chan won’t mind.”

The girl pushed herself away from Oikawa’s grasp. “I’d prefer being alone to spending any more time with you,” she bitterly remarked. Oikawa’s eyes narrowed and he sent her a cutting smile at this.

“Glad we’re on the same page then.” He closed the distance between them on the bench, leaning in towards her with a cunning smile. “By the way,” he whispered, carefully watching her scrutinizing gaze. “What you wrote on that paper? I feel the same way about you.”

She glared at him, the close proximity of their faces causing blatant repulsion to show in her eyes. Oikawa smirked and grabbed a grape from her lunch, popping it into his mouth before standing. He sent her an aloof wave as he walked away. “See you tomorrow, (y/n)-chan~” the setter hummed, feeling oddly satisfied by the incoherent grumbling that followed. 

She wasn’t going to get away with what she did yesterday so easily—Oh no. That’s not how Oikawa played things. He was going to be sure to make things just as frustrating for her as she did for him, and he was going to make it as satisfying as possible. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally posted this story on DeviantArt years ago, and it is still ongoing (and it is also still posted on that website). I've decided to post it here as well since I probably read more stuff here than I do on DA anyway! I once again am drowning in the HQ!! glory as I catch up with the anime/manga, and so, my urge to finish this story is back again! I am stuck inside my house (as I think most of us probably are during these times), so I have no excuse now...not even Animal Crossing, though it is tempting. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think! I'm working on finishing the story now. There are 10 parts as of right now, and I plan for 12 total. ^_^


	2. Chapter 2

“You really are a shitty bastard, Tooru.”

Oikawa jumped at the remark, turning to see the source of the voice. “Iwa-chan, are you stalking me?” the brunette mockingly accused.

“You told me to meet you here,” Iwaizumi immediately replied with a patronizing look. “And I happened to see you making an ass of yourself.”

“What?” Oikawa sheepishly laughed while rubbing at the back of his head. “That’s just how (y/n) and I mess around with each other.”

Iwaizumi simply rolled his eyes.

“Okay, okay,” Oikawa held his hands out in defeat. “I admit I was a __bit__ mean…” The ace raised a brow at this and Oikawa quickly continued, “ _ _But__ I did what you suggested! I’m going to be tutored __three__ days now. Monday’s, Wednesday’s, __and__ Friday’s,” he listed out, flashing his friend a cheeky smile. Iwaizumi snorted in response.

“Look at you finally taking responsibility,” he sarcastically stated. “But it would probably help if you stopped treating (y/n) like the enemy. She __is__ helping you—”

Oikawa let out an exasperated groan and strode forward with his hands cupped over his ears. “I’m tired of being scolded by you, Iwa-chan!” he whined. “Let’s go get lunch. I’m starving.”

“Wouldn’t have to scold you if you didn’t act like such a kid…” Oikawa heard his friend grumble behind him as the brunette led the way to Seijou’s cafeteria.

“Quit grumbling like an old man!” Oikawa called behind him, laughing as he jumped to avoid Iwaizumi’s kick. 

. . .

The Seijou captain sat in his room with endless amounts of notes spread all around him. His mind was drifting back to earlier at practice, where the setter had to reveal his planned absences to the team. He was secretly hoping for some disheartened reactions and complaints over his announcement, but instead found his team simply nodding in agreement to the idea.

__“About time you took it seriously,”__ Coach Mizoguchi had grumbled to him while Coach Irihata simply shook his head with a snort of laughter.

__“You have to be a good influence to our underclassmen, Captain!”__ Matsukawa playfully stated while patting the displeased setter on the back. __“Right, Makki__?” the third-year turned to his light-haired friend beside him who simply smiled in amusement. 

__“Study hard, Oikawa-san!”__ the second-year setter, Yahaba, had encouraged the captain.

The whole time Iwaizumi had held an irritating sneer on his face. It made Oikawa feel as if he had been beaten in some contest he wasn’t even aware of being a part of, and he really hated to lose… 

The third-year grumbled to himself as he scrambled through his notes, searching for the set that would help him translate the current passage he was reviewing in his textbook. He would show his team what he was capable of accomplishing. (Y/n) too.

At that moment, he made it his goal to show up to the tutor session the next day and have (y/n) praise him, and then he’d brag to Iwaizumi about it. Oikawa found himself stupidly grinning at the thought before he went back to reviewing.

The sooner he could master the material, the sooner everything could return to normal.

. . .

Oikawa found himself sneaking around the shelves of the library until he was in a position where he could peek over at the spot he and (y/n) usually studied at. He saw the girl already sat with all of her notes and books sprawled in front of her. She seemed busy writing something, occasionally pausing to glance back into her textbook.

Seeing her made Oikawa tense—almost as if his body had an immediate aggravated reaction to seeing the girl. It was similar to the irritable aura that Tobio brought onto him. But Oikawa knew that feeling like that would only hinder him in learning, so he mustered up a cheesy smile and made his way to the table.

“(Y/n)-chan!” he cheerily called, the girl sending him a quick glance before returning to her notes.

“Hey,” she warily greeted without meeting his gaze. Oikawa frowned at this.

“Something wrong?” he inquired with a raised brow.

She sent him an incredulous stare. ‘ _ _Are you seriously asking that?’__ seeming to be written in her expression. 

“Oh,” the third-year suddenly sheepishly rubbed at the back of his head as he slid into the chair ahead of her. “I guess we did kind of leave off on a weird note yesterday.”

“You mean, you guess you were kind of an asshole?” she bluntly retorted.

He twitched at this. “You aren’t the easiest person to get along with either, you know.”

A brief pause fell over the pair—both assessing one another with condemning stares.   
  
The 'getting along' bit wasn’t starting off too well.

Suddenly the girl clapped her hands together, causing him to jump at the gesture.

“I think we’ve already established that neither of us are too fond of each other,” she started. “So let’s just get on with what we’re here for. We can tolerate one another for three days a week, right?”

Oikawa raised a brow at the declaration and smirked. “I’ll be on my best behavior if you are." 

“I don’t know what I do to annoy you, but I’ll try not to do whatever that is,” she shrugged, throwing her hands up in defeat. Oikawa wanted to say how the fact she didn't know how she annoyed him annoyed him even more...But he bit his tongue.

“It’s a deal then,” he stated while holding his hand out to her, a cheeky smile planted on his face.

She suspiciously eyed his hand, but then reached her own out. Oikawa resisted the brief (and immature) urge to jokingly pull his hand away, but thought better of himself and grabbed the girl’s hand, shaking it vigorously. 

“Look at us getting along,” he mused.

“Amazing,” she jokingly agreed. “Now let’s take a look at what you’ve been working on.”

This actually excited Oikawa, because he was pretty confident with the majority of work he had been able to get done the night before.

“I warn you,” he started to speak while moving to hand his work to her from across the table, “you’re about to be really impressed.”

She raised her brow at this, reaching to grab the papers. “Impressed at how well you did, or how bad you did?” she teasingly questioned.

Oikawa rolled his eyes at this. “Why don’t you take a wild guess?”

She spread the paper out in front of her and grabbed her own work to place next to it. Silence fell over the pair as the girl studiously went over his work. Her eyes scanned over the paper and she occasionally paused to mark at random places.

Oikawa wasn’t shy about staring at her while she worked. In fact, it had become a sort of habit for him to study people in general. It was the sort of trait that came with being a setter.

He noticed how the girl seemed to completely block out any distractions while she busied herself with the work in front of her. She had a sort of focus that was almost chilling to watch. Then again, people sometimes said the same thing about him when it came to volleyball.

He watched as her brows would occasionally scrunch together, noticed how her mouth sometimes twitch, and the way her eyes would randomly flash with certain depth. Though he could probably count on one hand the amount of times this happened, for she was otherwise a blank slate.

It wasn’t too long before her eyes lost the intense focus and her gaze soon traveled up to meet his own. She seemed surprise to see the setter staring at her and blinked at him in confusion.

“So?” he asked with a smirk growing on his lips.

She shook her head as if to break herself from her previous state and then glanced back down at the papers before her. “Well, I admit that I’m impressed,” she finally spoke while handing him back his work. “You really improved since last time. There were still some mistakes, but you definitely saved my pen a lot of ink.”

“Well I’m happy for you,” Oikawa satirically remarked. 

She simply rolled her eyes. “Anyway, look at the notes that I left and tell me if you have any questions.”

He moved through the writing she had left for him and was admittedly impressed with how easy-to-understand they were. He transferred some of the tips to his own notes and made sure to write some extra examples that he could reference later.

When he came across something he didn’t quite understand, he’d move the paper towards her and point at it, asking her to explain what he had done wrong. Now that the two of them were actually making an effort to get along, the tense atmosphere that would have previously made the same situation difficult was nonexistent, and Oikawa found himself surprised at how much easier it was for him to understand the material.

What he would have misinterpreted as a condescending look before was now obviously just a face scrunched in thought. When she’d make a comment asking if he understood something, he used to translate that into something along the lines of: _ _‘Wow you still don’t get it? What an idiot,’__ but now he realized she was genuinely just asking so she could think of a way to explain the material to him. 

Maybe Iwaizumi was right. Maybe Oikawa had simply been making an enemy out of (y/n) based on his own biased thoughts. Maybe she really wasn't as bad as he thought. 

“See?" she suddenly chimed. "If you just apply yourself, then you get results. You shouldn’t always just rely on the fact that you’re a genius.”

Or maybe not.

“What?” Oikawa looked at the girl with disbelief blatant in his brown gaze.

She glanced back with questioning eyes, seeming surprised by his defensive and insulted tone. Perhaps she had been taken in by the nice flow their study session had been going, just as he almost had.

“Well, I mean it’s true…” she hesitantly spoke while warily eyeing him. “You’re so used to things being easy for you that you give up at any hint of a challenge. But you actually applied yourself this time, and the results show.”

Oikawa simply stared at her blankly. For the moment, that’s really all he could manage to do. And then he laughed—just straight snorted at the irony of the situation.   
  
She glowered at him uneasily in return, like he was crazy. 

“Calling me a genius," he started, a chilling tone lacing his voice, "is just about the worst thing anyone could ever say to me."   
  
With that, he got up and slid his chair back under the table. “I’m going to take a break. Be back in a bit.”

He made his way to front of library without looking back. He needed to get away from both her and the suddenly tense atmosphere that had washed over them. He knew if he stayed any longer he would only grow more annoyed and things would go back to how they had been before. He needed to interrupt the bad momentum before they both got sucked into it…

But still.

How the hell could she have said that? __Him__? A genius? Sure, he’s wished that were the case just about a million times, but now he’s come to see the term as nothing more than an offensive slur. Oikawa was not a genius. In fact, he understood all the burdens that came along with __not__ being one. He was hardworking and determined, and these were traits he heavily admired about himself. He’d be damned to have someone think that everything he had accomplished was due to being a genius. No way—he worked for __everything__ he was. 

And to hear that from __her__ ,nonetheless,was just a slap in the face. He could only imagine the absolute wrath that would have taken over him if Tobio had taken her place. Thank God __that__ wasn’t the case.

Oikawa was furiously pacing back-and-forth outside the front of the library entrance. Blatant stares were piercing him from all around. Nobody could help but be curious over what had put the volleyball captain in the state he was in. Even more people stopped to watch as they witnessed a strange girl march out of the library with a grimacing face of determination. Oikawa wouldn’t have even noticed her if it weren’t for staring eyes moving in her direction.

“What?” he asked, keeping his tone down from the prying ears. “I told you I’d be back in a minute. I’m not going to run off and—”

“I’m sorry!” she cut the setter off with her loud and sudden declaration. Oikawa’s eyes widened at this. 

“I’m sorry,” she said again, a fighting grimace fidgeting on her lips. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. I’m really sorry for offending you.”

“Um,” Oikawa stared at her blankly, not sure what to say. He honestly wasn't expecting a direct apology from her, or one at all. He glanced uneasily between (y/n) and the steadily growing audience surrounding them. “Alright, how about we talk about this inside—”

__“Who is she?”__ Oikawa overhead a girl mutter from the side.

__“You think they’re dating or something?”__ another worriedly questioned.

Another onlooker snorted in response. __“As if Oikawa-kun would date someone like her.”__

(Y/n) seemed to finally take note of their audience and visibly grew uncomfortable from the attention. Her body tensed and she warily glanced at the staring crowd around them.

__“Is she the reason why Oikawa's acting so weird?”_ _

“ _ _Probably. Who does she think she is?”__

“Tooru-kun!” one of the spectating girls pushed herself away from the crowd and approached the setter. “Is this girl bothering you?” she asked, sending a sneering look towards Oikawa’s tutor.

“No, I was just…” (y/n) tentatively began to say before Oikawa grabbed at her hand, beginning to pull her back towards the entrance of the library.

“(Y/n) isn’t troubling me at all,” Oikawa spoke in his usual, cheery tone. “In fact she’s been a huge help with my studies. Treat her well, okay?” he asked the crowd of previously rowdy girls. This seemed to make a complete turn in their attitude towards the flustered girl. 

“Of course, Oikawa-kun!” they happily agreed.

“Thanks for looking after Tooru-kun!” another exclaimed towards (y/n).

The girl simply stared in disbelief and barely managed a nod of acknowledgment before Oikawa ended up pulling her through the doorway, dragging them both back to their study table. The girl irritably pulled her hand away from the setter.

“I can manage now, thanks!” she snapped.

Oikawa raised a brow at her. “Such a bad attitude from someone who was just begging for my forgiveness.”

The girl flushed at this. “Who was begging?” she huffed. “I was just apologizing for my behavior.”

“Oh, so you wouldn’t mind if I didn’t accept your apology?” he mused with a teasing smirk forming on his lips.

She hesitated at this. “Well, that’s your decision to make…” she mumbled, obviously opposed to the idea. The setter grinned at this.

“Well, lucky for you I felt like that spectacle you made of yourself was punishment enough.” She glared at him in response, but he continued before she could speak, “Anyways, let’s forget about what happened. I mean, we were getting along so well before you screwed up,” he teased.

“Okay I get it!” (y/n) exaggeratedly sighed. “So, yeah. Let’s __please__ forget about it.”

Oikawa threw his hands up in defeat. “Consider it forgotten.”

“Right,” she started with a breath of relief. “Well then, I suppose we should go back to studying now.”

“Sure...But, I’m kind of hungry,” Oikawa stated, looking up thoughtfully at nothing. (Y/n) stared at him in disbelief.

“Are you suggesting we stop already?” she asked.

“No,” Oikawa casually replied while moving to the table and gathering all his belongings back into his school back, organizing (y/n)'s work into its own pile as well. “I’m suggesting we continue studying, but somewhere where we can eat too.”

She paused at this, suddenly staring wide-eyed at the setter. “You want to eat out?” she muttered.

Oikawa sent her a confused look before his mouth formed into the shape of an ‘o’ in his realization. “That’s right, I almost forgot! You don’t have any friends so you’re not used to stuff like this,” he bluntly stated.

(Y/n) audibly scoffed at this. “You can’ do that!” she fumed with blossoming cheeks.

“Do what? Point out the obvious?” he continued to tease with shining eyes, enjoying her steadily growing flustered state.

“That’s not fair! How are you allowed to say stuff like that to me while I have to shut up about things your sensitive about?” she openly complained, but her argument lacked genuine anger due to the fact that she was packing her bag as well.

“Think of it as pay back for earlier,” Oikawa innocently beamed. He received a cross glare in return. 

“I thought we were supposed to forget about what happened earlier?” she irritably huffed to herself. Oikawa found himself laughing in response and was surprised by the authenticity of it. He cut himself off suddenly and blankly stared ahead in confusion.

Was he actually getting along with her? After what had happened earlier? Was he __actually__ enjoying (y/n)’s company?

“Oikawa…?” (y/n) questioned uncertainly. This broke him from his thoughts and the setter quickly shook his head before pulling his bag over his shoulder.

“It’s nothing. Ready to go?” he asked while pointing towards the direction of the exit. She curiously stared at him for a moment longer before slowly nodding in response.

“Where are we going?” she asked, walking in step beside him as they made their way out of the library.

“Why don’t you choose?” Oikawa suggested with a growing smile. “I’m sure there are places where you’ve thought, ‘Once I get friends, I’ll have to go there with them!’”   
  
The girl irritably groaned at this and Oikawa found himself yet again laughing at her expense. Then there was a short pause of shared silence.   
  
“As much as I want to punch you right now," she slowly started, "there is actually a place...”   
  
Oikawa’s eyes widened at this and he couldn’t stop the snort of laughter that escaped him. (Y/n) immediately turned towards him with clenched fists. “Stop it, you can’t keep teasing me!” she whined.

“I’m sorry! Sorry,” he chortled with a wave his hand as he attempted to control his fits of laughter. “I just didn’t think you’d actually admit to it.”

“ _ _Anyway__ ,” she continued with a roll of her eyes. “I’ve always wanted to go to that burger place. It’s not too far from here, either…” she trailed off, attempting to look aloof about it. There was something about how she tried to act nonchalant about her excitement that Oikawa found endearing, and he couldn't bring himself to tease her any longer. 

“Okay,” he simply grinned. “I love that place.”

She blinked up at him with glowing eyes and turned to look away, but Oikawa didn’t miss the lift of her cheeks, suggesting her own returning smile.

Perhaps Oikawa had misjudged the girl after all. Sure, she could be a bit of a prude sometimes, and they definitely had the ability to get under each other’s skins—but she was likeable...in her own awkward, friendless way. Plus, who knew? He could end up hating her all over again by the end of the day. That was the thing, he just didn’t know with her.

So he decided to not overthink it. Sometimes understanding was complicated, and at the moment he didn’t want complicated. He felt happy and was genuinely enjoying (y/n)’s company, and so that’s all he would concern himself with.

Whatever it was he was feeling could be thought about later.


	3. Chapter 3

Oikawa watched the girl ahead of him happily down the burger she held in her hand. If he hadn’t known better, he’d assume this was the first meal she’s had in hours. Maybe even days. Or maybe she just had a thing for burgers.

She grabbed for the ketchup bottle beside her (as she had been doing about five times previous) and squeezed another generous portion onto her plate. The girl then used her burger to scoop up the goopy condiment before greedily taking another bite from it. 

“Would you like some burger with that ketchup?” Oikawa teasingly asked, meaning no real harm from it. The comment seemed to have struck a chord with her though, for she quickly placed her burger down and grabbed for a napkin, moving it over her mouth as cover before speaking.

“Shuff uph,” she attempted through a stuffed mouth.

The setter tilted his head and cupped a hand over his ear. “Sorry, what was that?” he hummed.

She simply rolled her eyes in response and went back to her meal. Oikawa noticed that she seemed to make a point of scooping even more ketchup than she previously had, aggressively chewing at her food while pointedly glaring at the volleyball captain, almost as if she were daring him to say something again.

He chuckled to himself before reaching for his bag, pulling out the study material from earlier.

“(Y/n)-chan,” he casually called while eyeing his work. “Hurry and finish so you can explain this part to me.”

When no response came, he looked up to see her nodding her head while vigorously attempting to chew the remainder of her food down. He also noticed that a small trail of ketchup managed to drip just off her lip, which she hadn’t seemed to realize herself.

“Oh, (y/n)-chan,” Oikawa lightly snorted while pointing at his tutor’s face. “You’ve got a little something there.”

Even with her face stuffed, the girl’s cheeks lit up at the announcement and she desperately grabbed for her napkin, wiping at her mouth for a moment before placing it back down. 

She had missed the spot completely.

“Ah,” Oikawa awkwardly started. “Actually it’s still—”

She went for her face again, continuously hitting the wrong area and looking just about ready to burst with embarrassment. Oikawa reached across the table to lightly grab at her moving arm, pulling it back down towards the table.

“Alright, alright, calm down,” he started while grabbing an unused napkin near him. “Let me do it for you.”

Before she could respond he was already dabbing at her face, wiping away any remains of the condiment. It wasn’t until he finished making sure the mess was completely gone that he met her eyes—wide and obviously staring. And it was then he realized what exactly he was doing.

Oikawa quickly pulled away and pushed himself firmly back into his seat, maybe even leaning a bit further back than necessary.

There was a brief pause of silence as the two simply stared at one another, as if trying to comprehend the situation they had come to be in. It was finally Oikawa who broke the spell by awkwardly clearing his throat.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized while sheepishly rubbing at the back of his head. “Sometimes I forget about bubbles…You know, personal space and staying out of other peoples. Iwa-chan gets onto me about it. He says I do it on purpose, but I really don’t. I think it’s just because—”

The setter cut himself off as he came to the realization of his own rambling.

“Anyway,” he continued, clumsily searching for the paper he had been studying over earlier. “I had a question about this, right here,” he pushed the paper across the table, pointing at the indicated problem.

Having finally choked down the remainder of her food, (y/n) had busied herself by tidily arranging the trash from her meal off to the side during the setter’s rambling, seeming to have been composing herself from the weird atmosphere Oikawa’s act had thrown over them.

“Right,” she started, with what sounded like a forced tone. “Let me take a look.”

She scanned over the paper before pulling out her own notes, probably to use as a reference. Or maybe she just wanted to keep her hands busy. With his own fidgeting at the moment, Oikawa knew that could easily be the case.

So he used this time in order to try and collect himself as well, because, quite frankly, he felt apprehensive. And he really wasn’t used to the sense.

He started by attempting to watch the girl work for a bit, but eventually strained away. For whatever reason, he just couldn’t find a way to observe comfortably. It just made him feel more awkward. 

Maybe it was because they were in a different environment together. The setter was used to only seeing her at school, more specifically the library. Or perhaps he was still getting use to the fact that they were acting all buddy-buddy now?

Whatever the case, all Oikawa knew was his current feeling of discomfort. So instead of looking at the girl before him, he looked everywhere else—down at his tapping hand, at the wandering people outside, the restaurant's opening door, the customers leaving, and then his approaching teammates, piling in one after another…

Wait, what?

His eyes grew in blatant surprise at the familiar faces that had appeared. Before he could react in any other way, the wing-spiker, Hanamaki, had noticed him as well—face lighting up in joyful recognition.

“Look who it is!” he called out in greeting, every other member accompanying him curiously following his gaze to the stunned setter. It wasn’t actually the whole team—as Oikawa had previously thought—but the third-years, plus the second-year setter and libero.

Oikawa mustered up a cheesy grin and sent them a wave. “Are you all coming to make sure I’m not just skipping out on practice?” he jokingly asked.

The group approached them, (y/n) turning to observe the tall members in what looked like nervous awe. 

“We just got through with practice,” Iwaizumi stated, ignoring Oikawa’s question.

The captain raised his brow questioningly at this. “This early?”

They nearly all groaned in unison in response, Iwaizumi simply shaking his head in blatant displeasure.

“Just because you’re dumb enough to push yourself to the point of injury doesn’t mean we are too,” he simply retorted, leading to a pouting Oikawa.

“That’s mean, Iwa-chan,” he complained. The ace merely rolled his eyes with an added shrug, as if to say, ‘Well, it’s true.’

“Don’t worry, Oikawa-san, we worked hard,” Yahaba reassured the frowning captain.

Oikawa eyed the second-year considerably before quickly turning to the short-haired libero beside him.

“Is it true, Watari-kun?” he interrogated.

The tanned underclassmen jumped at the abruptness of it, but vigorously nodded his head in response. To this, Oikawa let out a sigh of defeat. “Fine, if you guys say so…By the way, where are Kindaichi and Kunimi?”

“They had to head home,” Hanamaki shrugged. “Anyway, aren’t you going to introduce us to teacher-chan over here?”

Oikawa and (y/n) both cringed at this.

“Don’t call her that, it’s weird,” Oikawa immediately retorted. “Her name is (y/n)-chan. And, (y/n)-chan, this creepy guy here is Makki.” Hanamaki made a face at the comment, Oikawa ignoring him before gesturing to the rest of the group, “Then we have Mattsun, Iwa-chan, Yahaba-kun, and Watari-kun.”

The girl awkwardly bowed to them as best as she could manage in her seat. “Nice to meet you all,” she greeted before sending an uncertain glance towards the team’s ace. “Uh, well I’ve actually met Iwaizumi-san before, so it’s nice to see you again.” 

Oikawa did nothing to hide the shock on his face at this. He sent his friend a questioning look, raising a brow at him. Iwaizumi merely shrugged in response.

“Someone had to apologize for your behavior,” he answered nonchalantly.

Seriously, are you my mom? Oikawa irritably thought to himself before looking away with an annoyed huff.

“Hope our captain here hasn’t been too much trouble,” Matsukawa spoke to the ogling girl, casually leaning in towards (y/n) who immediately leaned away in response.

“Mattsun, don’t be weird,” Hanamaki lightly scolded the middle-blocker. He shot the light-haired boy a look at the statement. 

“Like you’re one to talk,” he huffed.

“Okay guys,” Oikawa interjected. “Nice to see you and all, but we have to study now.” The captain hurriedly waved his hands in a shooing-motion towards his teammates.

“If he’s ever being an idiot, don’t be afraid to hit him,” Iwaizumi suggested, blatantly ignoring his friend. Oikawa frowned to himself in response.

“Guys, seriously!” Oikawa whined, letting out an irritable sigh while slumping back in his seat. “Did you come here to eat, or just harass me?”

The third-years all exchanged glances with one another before Iwaizumi turned back to the setter with a straight face. “Why not both?”

Oikawa’s eyes narrowed at this. “Ha-ha,” he sarcastically huffed out with a roll of his eyes. “Well you’re doing great with the harassing part, but now you should go on to the eating. And the leaving me alone.” 

Before they could respond, Oikawa took notice of how the second-year setter had wandered behind (y/n) during his exchange with the third-year's. He cut away from his bickering to watch Yahaba curiously eyeing the papers (y/n) held from over her shoulder.

“Is this Oikawa’s work, (y/n)-san?” the second-year curiously asked the girl.

She glanced over at him in brief surprise before nodding her head in response. “Yeah, I’m going over it now.”

He stared at the paper in slight awe, “Wow, third-year English looks hard,” he nonchalantly pointed out.

Almost immediately, Oikawa nodded his head vigorously at the underclassmen. ”It is, Yahaba-kun. Now you understand my struggles, right?”

The second-year setter absently bobbed his head in agreement, still steadily focused on the paper before him. He then suddenly reached over the girl next to him to point out a certain line. “But I think that right there is wrong too,” he casually chimed. 

(Y/n) quickly studied the suggested problem, her mouth forming an ‘o’ in the revelation. “How did I miss that?” she exclaimed with a surprised jolt. The girl swiftly marked away at the paper before sending the second-year an astonished look. “Nice catch, Yahaba-kun! That’s amazing. Thank you for that!”

Yahaba flushed embarrassedly at the approval and meekly rubbed his head. ”It was nothing,” he responded with a modest wave of his hand. 

“Maybe Yahaba-kun can tutor you too, Captain!” Hanamaki chuckled at the now scowling brunette.

Oikawa knew he had no real reason for it, but he couldn’t help but feel annoyed by the second-year. It was probably because he didn’t like to be corrected, especially by underclassmen…

“No, I wouldn’t be any help,” Yahaba dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. “I really only knew that. Everything else is gibberish to me.”

…Or maybe it was the annoyingly humble attitude, Oikawa grimly concluded. 

The setter’s irritable mood didn’t go unseen, for Iwaizumi was sending him an odd look and Matsukawa was soon bubbling over with laughter at the glooming captain’s expense. 

“(Y/n)-chan, Oikawa isn’t always lame like this,” he chortled in amusement. “You should see him when he plays. He’s a completely different person.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Watari suddenly chimed in, nodding over at the captain’s tutor. “(Y/n)-chan, you should come watch our practice tomorrow! We can have a team match.”

Oikawa’s ears perked at this.

“Should we?” Yahaba audibly wondered. “No team going against Oikawa would really stand a chance.”

“Do you have such little faith in your setting skills?” Matsukawa asked the underclassmen, “It’ll be fine. What do you think, Iwaizumi?” the third-year looked to the ace who was still questioningly eyeing Oikawa.

He finally turned to Matsukawa with a shrug. “Why not?”

“Oh…I couldn’t just interfere like that,” (y/n) waved her hands with a sheepish grin playing on her lips. 

“C’mon, (y/n)-chan~” Oikawa cooed at the apprehensive girl, his mood taking a turn towards eager anticipation. “I want to hear how impressed you are with me after you see me play!”

She raised a brow at him, but still appeared unconvinced. “I don’t know…” she sighed. 

Still standing behind her, Yahaba propped an arm onto the table, leaning over (y/n) in a way that made Oikawa’s eyebrows twitch disdainfully. “You should come, (y/n)-chan! Cheer for us underdogs!” the underclassmen insisted with a kind grin. 

Oikawa glowered at the sight and crossed his arms together. “Don’t speak so casually, Yahaba-kun. She’s a third-year, you know?”

The second-year jumped back and guilty rubbed his head with a meek grin. “Right, sorry. (Y/n)-san.”

“Oh, I don’t care about stuff like that,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand. “But, I guess I can come check it out. If you guys are okay with it…” she uncertainly finished. The gleeful gaze of his teammates warmly met hers while Oikawa’s pierced with obvious disbelief.

“Awesome, we’ll see you then!” Yahaba waved his goodbye. The rest of the team exchanged their farewells as well, (y/n) tentatively waving at them as they walked to the counter.

After ordering their food to-go and making their way to leave, Oikawa sent them a final dismissive wave as they bounded out the restaurant, not missing the look Iwaizumi had shot him. He’d probably hear from him later.

“You all seem to get on well,” (y/n) commented while pulling open one of her textbooks.

“Yeah,” Oikawa casually replied, carefully eyeing the studying girl before him. “You seemed to get on well with them too,” he stated indifferently before turning his head and quietly muttering, "Especially with Yahaba-kun..."

She obviously didn't hear him properly, seeming to only be partially listening to what Oikawa was saying as she turned through her textbook. “Got along well with who?” she hummed while moving to take note of something onto her paper. 

Oikawa rolled his eyes at this. “You and Yahaba-kun,” he bluntly stated, as if it should have been obvious.

She looked up at him now and raised a brow, seeming confused by the sudden attitude he held. “Yeah…He’s nice, I guess?” she hesitantly answered.

Oikawa lightly snorted. "Yeah, nice enough for you to eagerly hop onto that offer to go to practice tomorrow only after he asked you." 

Her eyes narrowed deliberately at him. "What's with you?" 

"Nothing! You were just acting real chummy with our second-year setter, that's all," Oikawa accused with a complacent shrug. "Emphasis on second-year. You know, I didn't take you to be a cradle-robber, (y/n)-chan." 

Her mouth dropped. “What, cradle robber—are you kidding me right now?” she scoffed. “You think I was hitting on your friend or something?”

“Well, you didn’t hold back on praising him, and you didn’t even care when he addressed you so casually,” Oikawa pointed out.

“Maybe because I was genuinely impressed that he knew that as a second-year, and because I actually don’t care about honorifics at all?” (y/n) defensively listed out. “Listen Oikawa-kun, I’m sorry you thought I was making a move on your teammate, but I promise I wasn’t. I don’t even know the basics of flirting.”

Oikawa felt a weird sense of satisfaction at her confession and then paused in confusion. 

Wait, why did he even care if (y/n) was flirting with Yahaba? There really was no reason to be annoyed at her or the second-year. Even if there was flirting involved, why should he care? It was none of his business. Plus, if anyone had been making a move, it was definitely Yahaba. Which was alright too…Or, at least, he didn’t know why it shouldn’t be alright...Geez, maybe Iwaizumi was right about him being too used to getting all the attention from girls. He didn't even realize he counted (y/n) as a girl. Did he? 

The point was, he was making an ass of himself for no real reason.

Oikawa felt the random irate state that had overcome him before rapidly drain away, and the setter finally let out a defeated sigh, shaking his head in disdain. “Sorry, I don’t know what’s up with me,” he apologetically started. “Probably…volleyball practice withdrawals, or something,” he lamely suggested, simply pulling for any excuse. 

She snorted at this. “It’s been one day.”

“One day is enough,” he simply retorted.

“Well…try and forget about your beloved volleyball for now and focus on this,” she laid out the new set of exercise problems before him and he painfully groaned in response.

“Oooh…Fun…” he strained through a forced grin.

“Eventually, it might be. If you get good enough.”

Oikawa merely snorted at the thought. “I could be the master of this and I guarantee it will never be fun.”

“We’ll see,” She teasingly hummed before pointing at the paper in front of him. “Now—less talking, more mastering.” 

He let out a huff of breath, pushing the thoughts of his odd behavior to the back of his head and buckling down to finish the problems before him. It would be okay. He’d just talk to Iwaizumi about it later. Sometimes he simply over thought things, but Iwaizumi was always quick to point out the obvious.

A couple of hours passed by with their study session, and Oikawa’s brain felt fried. They had both been studiously working in silence, besides him occasionally having to ask for her assistance or her sometimes inquiring on his progress. By the end of it, she looked vaguely satisfied and he looked like he was ready to drop then-and-there.

“Studying is just as tiring as practice,” he groaned, allowing himself to rest his head on the table.

She laughed at this. “True, only studying isn’t what gets you your nice thighs and—” the girl thoughtlessly spoke, cutting herself off a moment too late. Oikawa’s eyes glistened with particular amusement as he sat up to grin at the girl’s now glowing face.

“Are you saying I have a nice body, (y/n)-chan?” he keenly inquired.

She stared doe-eyed at the question, her face completely flushed over. Oikawa had to bite his lip to fight the hilarity he found from her flustered state.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed about it, (y/n)-chan~” he reassured, voice smooth and dripping with allure. He reached across the table and jokingly grabbed one of her hands within his own. “I’d be okay with it if you found me attractive,” he practically purred, leaning towards her grimacing face that was stained pink. 

Her mouth simply opened and closed again, several times (to Oikawa’s amusement) before she finally tore her hand away from him, holding it as if she had just been burned. 

“Oikawa, you sneaky bastard!” she attempted to bellow in a hushed tone, as if she was trying to be considerate of the customers and employees around them. Oikawa couldn’t control the brash laughter that flew out of him in response. He had to practically bite at his fist to control the fits.

At this, she narrowly glared daggers at him, knocking her textbook shut and aggressively stuffing her belongings into her bag.

“Aw, I was just teasing you, (y/n)-chan,” Oikawa managed to chortle out between his sporadic laughter.

She pulled her bag onto the table and violently zipped it up, proceeding to throw it over her shoulder.

“(Y/n)-chan,” Oikawa whined out more seriously this time. “I really was joking. Are you actually mad?”

The girl simply ignored the setter and frustratingly stared at the ground below her, a scowl dancing on her lips while her cheeks burned with the several shades of humility. 

“No,” she finally huffed, and Oikawa couldn’t help the grin of relief that immediately spread upon his face. But then she met his eyes, piercing his honeyed stare with her own sharp gaze. “But…yes. Yes to your other question.”

Oikawa tilted his head at this. “My other question? What do you…” his words drifted from him and he found his face heating up with realization.

“You are attractive!” she forcefully blurted out. “But anyone with eyes could see that, so it doesn’t mean anything! Okay?” she asked, or more-so demanded.

Oikawa raised his hands in defeat. “Okay, okay,” he assured the fuming girl. “And thanks…I guess?”

“Right. Well, then…” she started, readjusting her bag and letting out a wisp of air that she seemed to have been holding. “We got a lot done, so I’m heading home now. Good job studying today,” she huffed out, nodding towards the slightly-disoriented setter.

As she turned around to leave, Oikawa quickly shot up in his seat, “Wait, (y/n)-chan!” he called. She turned at him and shot him a questioning look. “Um, I almost forgot…” he awkwardly spoke, “I wanted to ask earlier, but, we should exchange contact information.”

She blinked at this and then nodded lightly. “Ah, right,” she spoke before pulling out her phone. Oikawa mimicked the gesture and they traded cellphones, moving to input their numbers into one another’s devices. As they handed them back, Oikawa curiously eyed the girl ahead of him.

“So, I guess I’ll see you at practice tomorrow?” he questioned.

“Sure,” she hesitantly confirmed with a steady bob of her head. “See you tomorrow.”

With that, she sent a brief wave of goodbye before finally exiting the restaurant, the entrance's attached bell jingling at her departure.

“See you…” he muttered to himself, staring after the already long gone figure.


	4. Chapter 4

The buzzing tremor coming from Oikawa’s desk pulled him from his wandering thoughts on the days earlier ordeals. He stared absently ahead of him for a moment longer before taking a breath and finally shoving himself away from the comfort of his bed. He knew from the ringtone that it was Iwaizumi, and he could already guess what his friend wanted to talk to him about.

Oikawa reached for the phone and leaned against his desk for support as he answered.

“Hi, Iwa-chan~” he casually greeted, playing with his fringe that was still dripping from the bath he had just taken.

“Hey,” the rough voice came in response. Oikawa thought he could hear the faint sound of a television in the background and imagined his friend sitting in the familiar living room that he had practically grown up in himself.

“So, what’s up?” Oikawa hummed. “Did you call to see how studying went? Or to interrogate me on whether I was mean to (y/n)-chan after you guys left?”

“I’m not really worried about you being an ass to her anymore,” Iwaizumi snorted. “At least, not in the same way you were before.”

Oikawa paused at this. “What do you mean?”

“Can’t you tell me that?” he countered. When no response came, the ace continued. “You were acting weird today with Yahaba. That sort of annoying way you act when things don’t go your way.”

“Annoying?” Oikawa huffed before slumping onto the chair beside him. He crossed his arms onto the surface of his desk, rhythmically tapping his fingers onto the wood. “I just got irritated at him correcting me. I mean, it is pretty frustrating to be corrected by an underclassmen.” 

“I don’t think that’s what bothered you,” Iwaizumi suggested, leaving Oikawa’s drumming fingers frozen in place. An irritable frown then grew upon the setter’s lips. He didn't like how Iwaizumi kept moving around the point. He was usually direct with everything.

“If you think you know something, just come out and say it,” Oikawa impatiently demanded.

An exasperated huff sounded through the phone in response. “Fine, you were jealous.”

Oikawa audibly scoffed at this, disbelief thick in his tone. “Jealous of Yahaba-kun?”

“Jealous of the attention (y/n)-san gave him,” Iwaizumi proposed. “But how should I know the details? You were the jealous one.”

Oikawa’s brows furrowed together. “I mean…I didn’t really like the idea of either of them flirting with each other at first, but I don’t really care anymore. It’s none of my business anyway.”

“How mature of you,” a sarcastic drone whirred through the phone. “Like I told you before, you’re just too used to constantly being fawned over by girls, and (y/n)-san has always treated you like the idiot you are,”—Oikawa frowned at this—“so when her attention was on Yahaba, it annoyed you.”

“Do you really think I’m that simple minded?” 

“Is that a serious question?” Iwaizumi bluntly asked.

Oikawa snorted and then shrugged to himself. “Well, I guess it sort of makes sense. (Y/n)-chan is hard to impress, after all. She shouldn’t throw out her praise so carelessly,” he huffed.

“You’re seriously such a kid sometimes,” Iwaizumi grunted, and Oikawa could imagine the eye-roll that most likely accompanied his friend’s statement. “Anyway,” the ace started again, “don’t be an ass tomorrow during the practice match, especially since we’ll probably be against Yahaba. I know how you can get all riled up.”

A devious smirk formed on the setter’s face at the reminder. 

“I’ll treat him like I would any opponent,” Oikawa innocently retorted. “I respect my adorable protégé after all,” he cunningly mused, a full blown grin now spread upon his face. 

There was a short pause on the other side of the line and then the sound of an audible sigh. “You have a really annoying smile on your face right now, don’t you?”

“Are you psychic, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa jokingly inquired.

“Don’t have to be psychic to know what a shitty personality you have,” his friend simply responded, leaving the brunette mockingly pouting at the statement.

The setter then absently moved his hand across his desk, hitting one of his textbooks that had become overly familiar to him over the last couple of days. The item brought his thoughts back to his stubborn tutor, and he found himself thinking back to the scenarios from earlier.

A long silence stretched between the captain and wing-spiker, the only noises being the slight hum from Oikawa's phone and the quiet droning of Iwaizumi’s television.

Oikawa stared thoughtfully ahead of him before resting his head onto his arm and casually gazing at the glaring book ahead of him.

“Iwa-chan?” he questioningly called, receiving an answering grunt in return. He paused again before finally asking, “What do you think of (y/n)-chan?”

There was silence and then the sound of the phone shifting. “She’s nice?” the ace finally answered with a questioning tone, as if unsure of what sort of response Oikawa expected.

“I guess I’m just confused,” Oikawa finally admitted. “I practically hated her a day ago, and today I felt bummed that our study session ended so soon.”

“Probably because you never actually hated her,” Iwaizumi responded a-matter-of-factly, and Oikawa found his head tilting in confusion. “You never really knew her before, but now you’re getting an idea of how she actually is. You just assumed what she was like before and hated the idea you had in your head.”

“But…” Oikawa started to speak, but his voice faded uncertainly.

Oikawa wasn’t sure what to say, because his friend was right. He had assumed a lot about his tutor, and then he found out today that she really wasn’t bad company. Sure, she could be a bit irritating sometimes—and she could definitely put him in difficult situations. Like how she had so openly disliked him at first, as she obviously displayed in her note to him. And, just today, she had casually labeled him as the type of person he hated himself. 

But—even so—he didn’t hate her. She was annoying, but she was charming as well…in her own way. 

“So am I right?” Iwaizumi’s voice broke through.

Oikawa grimaced before childishly grumbling, “She really can be irritating, though...”

“And so can you,” Iwaizumi immediately retorted. “Maybe she’s more like you than you think.”

Oikawa scowled at this. “That’s like comparing me to Tobio.”

A snort sounded through the line. “She’s nothing like Kageyama. He’s really oblivious compared to her—and a lot people, for that matter. I’m almost positive if we x-rayed his head, we’d find that he had a volleyball for a brain.”

“That would explain a lot,” Oikawa laughed, leaning back into his chair with a gleeful grin plastered on his face. Nothing quite cheered him up like trash-talking the genius setter. 

"So, is everything good with you now?" the ace curiously inquired. 

"More or less," Oikawa joked. "But don't worry, Iwa-chan, I'm fine! You know, you'll make such a great mother someday~" he cooed. 

"Don't gross me out," Iwaizumi blatantly stated.

Oikawa chuckled to himself in response, then pushed away from his desk and stood up with a stretch. “Well, it’s late so I’m going to head to bed now,” he finally spoke. “Talk to you later, Iwa-chan~”

“Alright,” Iwaizumi’s voice casually called out, “See you tomorrow.”

Oikawa quipped another quick farewell before hanging up and setting his phone back onto his desk. He began to move towards his bed, but then paused and stared back at his phone.

Silence fell over him in the brief moment of consideration and, before he knew it, the device was back in his hand. He stared at the glowing screen before him and observed the newly added contact information from earlier.

If he was being honest with himself, he was feeling curious. The type of curiosity that kind of made him want to text (y/n) at the moment. Simply out of curiosity, of course. 

Would she text back if he were to message her? And what would her text look like if she did reply? Would she use emoticons, like his own, or be more to-the-point, like Iwaizumi’s? Was it too late to even consider texting her? What else could she even be doing now? Oikawa couldn’t imagine her doing anything but studying. That’s all he knew of her, after all. That, and the fact that she was bad at making friends...Also, she really liked burgers.

Oikawa found himself wondering what sort of interests she even had besides the few he knew. What did she like to do in her free time? Did she have her own passion like he had volleyball? Did she even like volleyball?

He also had a weird, unsettling feeling that nagged at the thought that he’d ever find out any of the answers to those questions. What if she simply remained this annoying mystery that she was now? Simply his study-addict, burger-loving tutor? Is that all he would ever come to know? 

For whatever reason, the mere thought of that being true bothered the hell out of him. And for that same unconscious reason, Oikawa soon found his fingers pounding away at the buttons on his phone. 

It was simple and innocent enough. It wouldn’t even mean anything if he didn’t get a reply back, because it was that casual. But none of that really mattered anyways, because all Oikawa knew was that sending the message would be enough to satisfy whatever it was in him that needed the satisfying. 

[to: (y/n), 10:48 PM]  
Goodnight (y/n)-chan~ ^^

He sent the message and waited for the confirmation that notified him that it got through before moving to set his phone back down on his desk. The sudden vibration from it had him jumping in surprise, and he fought to catch his pone before it fell—swiftly pushing the device back in front of him and eagerly staring at the reply.

[fr: (y/n), 10:49 PM]  
Goodnight. 

He paused with an assessing gaze before an amused grin graced over him. So she was a blunt texter. He wasn’t sure what else he expected. She probably wasn’t used to texting anyone but her family, after all.

A second vibration shook the palm of his hand, bringing his attention back to the device yet again.

[fr: (y/n), 10:49 PM]  
(-^o^-) zzzz…

Oikawa snorted at the sight. Was that supposed to be a sleeping face? Seriously, why was it so happy looking then? She really was an amateur when it came to texting…

He continued to stare at the messages, a budding giddiness filling him and soon resulting in another laugh to escape his lips.

“How cute…” he unexpectedly chuckled to himself before abruptly freezing.

Cute…? He hadn’t meant that. Well, the messages were funny, but…

He switched his phone off and left it on his desk before swiftly moving back to his bed.

He seriously just needed sleep. Today had been a weird day for him, but there was nothing a goodnight's sleep could fix. At least…he’d find out if that were true in the morning.

The setter tossed around in his bed for a minute before settling onto his side, staring absently at the dark of his wall and waiting for his weariness to consume him and hoping it happened before his own festering thoughts did… 

. . .

“Free ball!”

The thuds of connecting receives echoed throughout Seijou’s gymnasium, and a pair of looming brown eyes moved from following the flying sphere to glancing back at the entrance. 

“Toss it to me!” Iwaizumi roared from the side.

Oikawa’s gaze flickered back to the air and he clumsily sent the ball flying over to the team’s ace. There was a second of silence before the thunderous clap of the ball hitting the ground filled the room, followed by calls of encouragement and cheer.

“Nice Kill, Iwaizumi-san!” several teammates bellowed.

But the enthusiasm was short lived, for the burly wing-spiker was soon approaching the captain with a blatant look of annoyance etched on his face.

“Seriously, what’s with you?” he accusingly asked. “You’ve been out of it all practice!”

The teammates exchanged looks with one another as Oikawa’s own face fell in exaggerated astonishment.

“It was just a mistake, Iwa-chan!” he hurriedly excused himself. “What are you getting so mad about? We scored, didn’t we?”

“That’s not the point,” the ace irritably grunted with an added roll of his eyes. “There’s no point of playing if you’re going to be half-assed about it.”

Oikawa huffed at this and Watari approached the two warily. 

“Let’s just calm down. It’s just a practice match, after all,” he sheepishly spoke with his hands raised out before him.

Both third-years sharply turned to the second-year libero with piercing stares that caused him to jump in surprise. Hanamaki crossed the net and approached his teammates with a questioning look, allowing Watari to awkwardly make his escape. 

“Why are you so distracted anyway?” Hanamaki loudly asked Oikawa, the rest of his scrimmage team following behind him from the opposite side of the net. 

“Who’s distracted?” Oikawa defensively responded.

The sudden loud clang of the gymnasium’s door opening soon had Oikawa’s head hastily turning to the source with expectant eyes. As he watched both coaches enter into the building, blatant displeasure soon replaced his previous anticipation. The wing-spiker’s own eyes lit up with realization as he watched the scene play out.

“You’re looking for teacher-chan!” Hanamaki suddenly exclaimed.

Oikawa’s head immediately snapped back towards the light-haired third-year. “I’m not looking for anyone!” he barked, a haggard sigh soon escaping the ace beside him. 

“So that’s what this is about?” Iwaizumi groaned. 

Hanamaki shook his head with an amused grin on his face while Matsukawa simply snorted with amusement. Oikawa scowled at the group of third-years, crossing his arms defiantly with an irritated grimace strewn on his lips. 

“You guys are so full of shit,” he angrily huffed.

“What are you guys doing?” Coach Mizoguchi demanded as he and the head coach approached the loitering team. “You’re supposed to be having a practice match, not standing around gossiping like old women.”

“We were, but then someone here got a little distracted,” Matsukawa spoke with teasing eyes aimed at the sulking captain.

“For the last time, I wasn’t,” Oikawa stated with clear finality. Though, he admittedly was a little preoccupied looking out for (y/n), he didn’t want to admit that in front of the coaches (or the rest of his team for that matter). “I just thought a…friend…of mine was going to show up to practice today, is all,” he stumbled out. 

He was used to referring to (y/n) as his tutor, but it would be a bit weird to say that he invited his tutor to watch practice, wouldn’t it? And she was a friend…Or at the very least an acquaintance.

The coach simply sighed and dismissed them all to do individual practice. Oikawa turned away and felt the familiar frown return to his face as he made his way to the volleyball basket.

It wasn’t outlandish for him to have been expecting her when she had told him that she was coming, was it? If she decided that she didn’t want to come, she could have at least sent him a text or something. It made sense for him to feel annoyed and upset, right? Right... 

Because Oikawa didn’t know what he was expecting, anyway. (Y/n) was probably not interested in volleyball at all. And it’s not like she didn’t have her own things to do. He was stupid for thinking that all she ever did was study. She had her own life too, and she probably didn’t want to spend any more of it with him than she was already being forced to. The same should go for him as well.

Plus...what Iwaizumi had told him before was probably also true. Oikawa could admit to himself that the female attention he got sometimes got to his head. He was just a guy, after all. Having been so busy recently—between having practice and getting tutored—he really didn’t have any free time to do anything else. So maybe Oikawa was simply craving that attention again, and he was unconsciously expecting it from (y/n). 

Yeah...that makes sense, the brunette knowingly nodded to himself. 

Now that he realized this, he didn’t need (y/n) to fill that 'role' for him anymore. He could figure out other ways—he had before. So he shouldn’t let the girl get under his skin. She was simply helping him pass an exam, after all. 

Oikawa forced a smug smile on his face as he grabbed onto a ball in front of him. He was glad to have had all that finally figured out.

“Hey, pass me one.”

The setter turned to face the team’s ace who was sending him a suspicious stare.

“What’s with that smile?” Iwaizumi pointedly asked through narrowed eyes. “It kinda pisses me off.” 

Oikawa simply pushed a ball into his friend’s grasp with a knowing chuckle escaping his lips. “I just figured out what’s been bothering me, is all" he smugly started. "Iwa-chan…I wish I was as unlucky with girls as you. Maybe I wouldn’t be in this predicament if I—OW!” The setter glumly rubbed at his aching gut while Iwaizumi held his fist up, clenched and prepared to attack again.

“What are you going on about this time, anyway?” the ace casually asked Oikawa, as if he hadn’t just sucker punched him. He then moved to grab another ball and threw it over to Hanamaki before sending the captain an expectant look. “Is this about (y/n)-san?”

“Sort of, but not really,” Oikawa shrugged nonchalantly. The wing-spiker raised a questioning brow at him.

“I’m deprived!” Oikawa finally let out, as if it should have been obvious. “(Y/n)-chan is the only person I’ve been spending time with lately besides you guys, and a man needs some female attention in his life! I mean, she’s a girl, but she’s (y/n)-chan, so it’s sort of like trying to satisfy your appetite by drinking water—But I can’t live off of just water, Iwa-chan! I need food! Meat! Rice! Vegetables! A full course meal, not an appetizer! Do you understand?” he finished with a huff, turning towards the ace who simply stared blankly back at him.

“You really are an idiot, huh?” Iwaizumi bluntly responded.

Oikawa simply sighed and shook his head with pity. “You wouldn’t understand. Poor lonely, Iwa-chan—” He jumped to avoid the volleyball that was hurled at him and stuck his tongue out teasingly at the scowling ace.

As Oikawa turned to pick the ball up, he noticed the second-year setter had beat him to it. The boy held it out for Oikawa to grab while eyeing the captain expectantly. 

“So (y/n)-san’s not coming after all?” Yahaba asked.

“It’s too late now anyway,” Kindaichi chimed in from behind the setter, handing the second-year a water bottle. The tall middle-blocker then wiped his forehead with the towel he held in his hand before adding, “Wish I could have met her, though. I’m curious to see what Oikawa-san’s tutor is like. What about you, Kunimi?” he asked his jaded-looking friend that seemed preoccupied tying his shoes.

The boy shrugged indifferently after straightening up. “I guess,” he responded, soon jogging to go back onto court where the rest of the team were practicing their blocking and spiking.

Yahaba sighed loudly. “I was looking forward to (y/n)-san coming,” he frowned.

Oikawa glowered towards the boy with an obvious frown of his own twitching on his lips. Was he seriously just trying to piss him off or something? He really didn’t need to beat their heads with the fact that he obviously liked her. 

Matsukawa and Hanamaki seemed to overhear the underclassmen’s statement as they were passing to grab their water bottles. They exchanged looks with each other and the curly-haired middle-blocker was soon slyly approaching the second-year with a cunning smile playing on his lips.

“Why’s that, Yahaba-kun?” Matsukawa mischievously inquired.

“Does Yahaba have the hots for Teacher-chan?” Hanamaki added with a laugh, moving to pat the blushing second-year on the back. “Are you planning on asking her to tutor you too? Maybe she’ll give you some private lessons—”

“Stop it, that’s so embarrassing!” Yahaba pushed the third-year away, his faced glowing with embarrassment, much to their amusement. On the other hand, Oikawa didn’t feel too amused at all.

Iwaizumi seemed to pick up on his friend’s disdain, a devilish grin spreading across the ace’s face as he approached the blushing second-year himself. “You should go for it, Yahaba. I know Oikawa would support you. He understands what you’re going through, after all.”

Yahaba looked genuinely confused by the third-year’s mannerisms. “Uh, it’s not a big deal or anything,” he rushed out. “She’s cute, but I’m sure Oikawa-san wouldn’t want me hitting on his tutor—”

“No, he won’t care!” Iwaizumi insisted with an intimidatingly cheerful smile. “Oikawa was saying earlier how (y/n)-san is like an appetizer, anyway. Or was it water?” he thoughtfully wondered, leaving Yahaba looking helplessly confused.

“Eh—? Appetizer? Water?” the second-year stuttered out, but Iwaizumi simply continued.

“Either way, he won’t mind. Right, Oikawa?” the ace innocently asked, turning towards the scowling setter beside them.

“Actually,” Oikawa snapped, “(Y/n)-chan isn’t really into—” He suddenly stopped himself.

It wasn’t his concern anyway. She was just his tutor. Nothing more than an acquaintance, really.

Oikawa bit at his lip and turned away with a complacent shrug. “Do whatever you want,” he casually finished.

Iwaizumi stared disbelievingly at the brunette for a second before snorting and shaking his head incredulously. 

Yahaba looked uneasily between the captain and vice-captain. “Well…I mean, I wasn’t really planning on doing anything anyway. It seriously isn’t a big deal…” he finished uncertainly. “Uh, I’m going to head back now,” he awkwardly stated while pointing towards the court. 

“Yeah, come on guys. You’re slacking today,” Hanamaki chided while jogging away with Kindaichi and Matsukawa following behind him.

“What bad influences!” Matsukawa teasingly called from over his shoulder.

The two captains sent each other stubborn looks of annoyance until Iwaizumi finally turned to follow after his teammates. “You’re not fooling me for a second, you know,” he quickly muttered before running off.

Oikawa stared after the ace with a confused look, not understanding what his friend had meant. It wasn’t like he wasn’t trying to trick him, he seriously just didn’t care. All Oikawa wanted was to pass his exams, and that was that.

At least…that’s what he would keep telling himself. But it was even getting hard for him to believe, especially when he found himself eagerly spinning towards the entrance of the gymnasiums door for what felt like the millionth time that practice, followed by the immediate pit of disappointment that gripped him when he was yet again met with the wrong face.

Oikawa let out a loud an audible breath of frustration.

Whatever, it didn’t matter anyway.

There was nothing wrong with him feeling so bothered. Who liked to be stood up? Nobody.

So—no—Oikawa wasn’t fooling anyone, because there wasn’t anything he needed to hide.

He took in a deep breath and tried to clear his mind from any troubling thoughts before running over to join his teammates behind the net, preparing to finish off the rest of the practice with the unsettling focus that the game brought out of him. 

. . .

As the day grew later, the coaches finally announced the end of practice and dismissed the team to leave. The members began to make their exit from the gymnasium—all except the captain, who vigorously continued to practice his renowned jump serves.

“Oi, come on already,” Iwaizumi huffed at his friend. “The whole team’s going out to eat.” 

Oikawa simply ignored his friend and threw the volleyball in his hand ahead of him, running up into a high jump and then violently striking the floating object down. The ball blasted through the air with amazing energy before plummeting straight into the top of the net, not making it passed the tall barricade. A blatant ‘tsk’ of annoyance sounded through Oikawa’s scowling expression before he went to grab for yet another ball.

“You’ve practiced enough today,” the ace continued to pester at his aggravated friend. “Let’s go now before you keel over and die with that ugly expression on your face.”

“I’ll catch up with you guys soon,” Oikawa calmly dismissed.

Iwaizumi simply stared at the setter, seeming to be contemplating on whether he should keep badgering him or not. After a short pause, he finally let out a defeated sigh and turned towards the entrance.

“Fine—but if you don’t meet us at the gate in five minutes, you’re treating us all to ramen!” Iwaizumi called out from behind his shoulder before exiting the gymnasium.

“You guys would have probably made me pay anyway,” Oikawa quietly huffed before throwing the second ball into the air.

Several serves later and Oikawa was far from satisfied. He just wasn’t at his best today, and having off days pissed him off. He could put countless amounts of hours into practicing and then simply have one off-putting day that made it all feel like it was for nothing. But he also knew it was more than that. He was aggravated, and that was messing up his concentration. And he knew all that bullshit about wanting 'female attention' that he tried to convince himself with earlier was just that—shit. The answer was simple. It was because of her, (y/n). She was the reason for his aggravation.

The sudden sound of the gymnasiums door squeaking open had him letting out a blatant breath of annoyance.

“I told you I’d meet you guys there soon. I was just cleaning—” his voice cut off as he turned to see an unexpected face. It was the face he had been expecting all throughout practice, but he had long since given up on the thought of her showing.

“Oikawa-kun…” the girl managed out between her heavy breathing. It seemed as if she had just been running. “I’m sorry, I got caught up having to help with classroom duty and then my teacher—”

“Why are you apologizing?” Oikawa asked, cutting her off. An unreadable expression masked his face as he moved to collect the volleyballs littering the court.

Geez—what was this annoyingly warm satisfaction that immediately washed over him as he saw her? Was he seriously that dependent on her showing up? 

“It was rude for me to say I was coming and then not show up…” she spoke hesitantly. “And when I tried to text you, I realized I had forgotten to charge my phone last night…” the girl glumly finished.

“How careless of you, (y/n)-chan,” Oikawa light-heartedly teased, but there was an off-putting tone in his voice that seemed to make the girl wary.

“…Are you okay?” she slowly asked.

The setter raised a brow at her. “I’m fine? Well, tired as hell and pretty hungry…But fine,” he shrugged. 

“Um,” she hesitated, “Well…if you’re hungry, do you want to go eat somewhere? I don’t mind paying, either,” she finished uncertainly. 

Oikawa simply laughed in response, causing (y/n)’s brows to visibly twitch and an unsettled grimace to grow across her lips.

“Don’t feel like you have to buy my forgiveness,” he said while tossing the balls away into the basket. “I told you, it’s no big deal.”

Seriously, he didn’t want to have to admit to her just how big of a deal it actually had been. He had been completely thrown off during practice and more attentive towards waiting to see if she’d show up, like some stupid dog waiting for it's owner to return.

“Well, I do feel bad about that, but I’m not asking because of it. I just wanted to—”

“(Y/n)-chan,” Oikawa interrupted, turning to face the girl directly. Her brows furrowed together in response to show her confusion at his suddenly stern tone. “I thought you were busy on Thursday’s. That’s why you said Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s worked best for you, right?”

“I mean, sometimes I am, but today I’m not really—”

“We should stop just this thing where we feel obligated to spend more time with each other than necessary," he sighed. "It’ll get difficult after a while, and I don’t want to trouble you more than—”

“What’s your problem?” she cut in, aggravation thick in her tone.

Oikawa tilted his head at this. “What are you getting angry about? I’m just saying that—”

“Oh, shut up,” she huffed. “You’re just being annoying right now! You obviously were upset that I didn’t show up, and you’re trying to act like it didn’t bother you by being an ass!”

Oikawa grimaced, but turned so she couldn’t see the falter in his expression. “Don’t you think you’re being just a little dramatic, (y/n)-chan?” he grunted, turning away from her as he pushed the basket to the side of the court. “And who are you to say what bothered me or not anyway?”

“Just stop it already,” her voice came again, harsher than before. “Don’t try and make it seem like I’m just some loser who's desperate for a friend. This ‘thing’ isn’t one-sided. If it was, you wouldn’t have insisted I come to practice in the first place—and you wouldn’t have texted me last night.” 

Oikawa’s brow twitched at this and he snapped his head back towards her, meeting her determined expression with his own burning gaze.

“So are you going to tell me what’s wrong or are you going to keep being passive-aggressive about it?” she finally demanded with a stubborn glare.

Oikawa’s eyes narrowed. It annoyed him how she was able to see right through him, especially since she had to be so damn mature about it. He knew he was acting like a kid, but that didn’t mean she had to scold him like she was his mom or something. He already had Iwa-chan for that.

He let out an annoyed huff and broke his gaze from hers. “Alright—fine. It did bother me, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Oikawa expected her to immediately goad over how dumb he was for getting bothered over something like that, and he had several justifications already forming in his head that he was prepared to defend himself with. He soon found his barricade fall when the girl simply let out a small breath. 

“Well, I’m sorry for upsetting you. It was my fault anyway.”

Oikawa felt his jaw immediately clench in response.

This reaction was actually more irritating than the one he expected, but he should have known this would be the way she would respond. (Y/n) wasn’t the type to provoke in this situation, because she really was different from the sort of person that Oikawa had imagined her to be—just as Iwaizumi had told him earlier.

The setter let out an audible sigh and irritably crossed his arms together. “Why do I let you get under my skin so much?” he mumbled, mostly to himself.

“Is that a rhetorical question?” she asked with a raised brow.

He narrowed his eyes at her and closed the distance between them, reaching out to menacingly pinch at her cheek. “You think you’re sooo cute, don’t you (y/n)-chan?” he seethed through a devious grin.

“Stop it,” she complained, pushing his hand away and rubbing at her face. “Geez, are you an uncle or something?”

“I am, actually,” he proudly huffed. “And my adorable nephew is so much cuter than you’ll ever be.”

“I’m sure he’s very cute,” she responded with a roll of her eyes. She then moved her hand down from her face and glanced at Oikawa with a more reproachful stare. “So…Does this mean you’re done being mad at me?” she practically mumbled out.

Oikawa rolled his eyes this time. “I’m still annoyed,” he retorted, causing the girls expression to falter a bit. “But I’ve come to a conclusion after today. I actually do like you, (y/n)-chan.”

Her face immediately lit up and she took an excessively noticeable step away from the volleyball captain. “A-are you confessing to me!?” she exclaimed, raising her arms defensively as if he were about to attack her.

Oikawa frowned. “Don’t be stupid. I meant that you’re cool. As in, let’s make this ‘friendship’ thing we’ve been testing out official.”

Her head simply titled in confusion. “Wait, what?”

“Today, when you didn’t show up, it really did bother me...and the fact that it did bother me bothered me even more. I thought that it was because you’re a girl, and I was trying to appease myself with your attention, but it’s none of that. You’re just one of the first 'girl friends' I’ve had that doesn't fawn over me.” He faltered at this. “Like, a friend who’s a girl! Not girlfriend, girlfriend.”

“Yeah, I get it!” she snorted. “Geez, is that what all this is about? You really are an idiot, huh?”

Oikawa blinked at her with an assessing look, feeling a sense of déjà vu at her question. She would really get along with Iwaizumi.

He shook his head from the thought and continued. “Anyway, I want to stop pretending that I shouldn’t like you. You’re pretty cool. I mean, you’re also annoying…but that’s beside the point. Let’s just be friends now so things can go back to normal, ‘kay?”

(Y/n) simply stared at Oikawa through narrowed eyes, with her arms crossing over and lips set into a slanted frown. “I don’t know what’s going through that head of yours, but aren’t we already friends? I sort of assumed that, at least." 

Oikawa slowly blinked at the girl and then suddenly chortled at her frustrated expression. “You’re right, (y/n)-chan~” he mused with glowing eyes. “I’m just being stupid as usual. Forgive me for my behavior, okay~?” he cheekily grinned.

“I’ll think about it,” she huffed, looking away with a stubborn pout.

“Oh yeah,” Oikawa pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked through until he found the girl’s text from the other night. “But, if we’re friends, you’ve gotta work on your texting—” he shoved the phone at her face and sent her an accusing stare. “I mean, seriously what is this? Is it happy or sleeping?”

The girl flushed at this and pushed the phone away from her face. “It’s happily sleeping, obviously. Get with the times, old man,” she stuck her tongue out at him and his eyebrow twitched irritably in response. He reached for her face and clasped onto her cheeks with his fingers, a wicked grin spreading across his face. 

“What’s with that attitude, (y/n)-chan~?” he practically seethed.

She grabbed at his hands, attempting to pull him off. “Stop it,” she whined, but Oikawa didn’t miss the laughter that also fell from her lips. He grinned to himself and was getting ready to reproach with something else when the creak of the gymnasium door opening interrupted him.

Both (y/n) and him froze before turning to see Seijou’s ace staring with surprised eyes. An awkward silence fell over the scene and a sly smile soon grew over Iwaizumi’s face. 

“Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?” he grinned.

Oikawa and (y/n) exchanged looks before he quickly released his grip on her face and she hopped away from him.

“I was just teaching (y/n)-chan not to be annoying,” Oikawa casually dismissed with a wave of his hand.

“Oh,” he mused in an obviously disbelieving tone. “Is that what was happening?”

Iwaizumi sent the captain an obviously mocking stare and Oikawa glared at him in return, but this only seemed to amuse the ace more.

“I was coming to see what was taking you so long, but don’t worry about it anymore," he insisted almost too eagerly. "Tooru, you should walk (y/n) home. I’ll tell the team that you’ll treat us next time.” 

He sent the pair a powerful thumbs up before quipping out a quick 'goodbye' and hurriedly closing the door behind him, but Oikawa didn’t miss the preceding shit-eating grin his friend had worn on his face just as he disappeared. He soon found an irritable smile twitching on his own lips.

“You were supposed to eat out with your team?” the girl suddenly asked, breaking Oikawa from his thoughts. 

“Oh, yeah…” he spoke while rubbing the back of his head. “But don’t worry about it. I wasn’t feeling ramen today, anyway,” he shrugged.

“Oh, okay,” she started uncertainly before glancing at the doorway and then back towards the setter. “Well, you don’t have to worry about walking me back. I’m just going over to the station, anyway.”

“Don’t be silly, (y/n)-chan,” Oikawa reproached as he made his way to the entrance, opening the door for the girl and gesturing for her to go through first. “What sort of man would I be if I made you walk back by yourself? Besides, I want to stop by somewhere and get some food too.”

The girl smiled at this and teasingly asked, “Your treat?” as she walked past him. 

Oikawa snorted in response and rolled his eyes. “Sure thing, princess." 

“I’m kidding!” she quickly took back, dismissing the idea with the wave of her hands. “I feel like I should be the one treating you anyway.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Oikawa thoughtfully mused, holding his hand to his chin. “You haven’t bought my forgiveness yet. Well, I guess I’ll just have to choose carefully then,” he finished, looking at her with glittering eyes. The girl raised a brow questioningly at him in response. 

“Do you have somewhere in mind?” she warily asked.

“Yup!" he eagerly grinned, causing her eyes to narrow suspiciously. "Let’s head there after I change back into my uniform,” Oikawa chimed before turning towards the club-room building. “Don’t go wandering off, okay (y/n)-chan~?”

“Well don’t take long!” she reproached as he disappeared up the stairs and to the second-floor. 

The setter hurriedly worked at pulling off his practice clothes and replaced them with his school uniform. He vaguely hoped that he didn't smell too bad from the days practice, but hopefully the deodorant he had on him would take care of any lingering and unwanted aroma. He wasn't really the type to stink so bad anyway, he mostly carried around the stuff for Iwaizumi. The guy was practically a lethal weapon after sweating so much. 

After changing, the setter finished gathering his belongings into his bag and double-checked to make sure he hadn't left anything behind. He then left the room and began to lock the door before glancing over his shoulder to see the familiar girl still in the same place, only she was facing the opposite direction and rocking on her heels as she waited.

Oikawa knowingly smiled to himself and then quickly and quietly moved to creep up behind the fidgeting girl, smoothly leaning in over her shoulder. “Did I take long?” he asked. 

She let out a yelp of surprise and jumped forward, much to Oikawa’s amusement. He laughed to himself and tossed his bag over his shoulder. “Ready to go?” 

“Let me recover from my heart attack first,” she irritably puffed out, sending him an accusing glare. He chuckled at this and ruffled at her head.

“Don’t be so dramatic, (y/n)-chan~” he teased before she snippily batted his hand away from her. “And let’s hurry before I die of starvation. It’ll be your fault if that happens, you know?”

“I’ll be sure to reflect on it if it comes to that…” she grumbled to herself.

“What did you say?” Oikawa loudly and mockingly asked. “You want to buy me dessert too?”

The girl flinched at this and she stiffly turned to walk ahead. “Let’s just hurry before it gets too late,” she haggardly declared. 

Oikawa simply smiled to himself and jogged to catch up to her, quickly falling into pace besides the grumbling girl.

He wasn’t exactly sure of it, but there was some sort of relief in him now, not to mention a definite change in his mood. He almost felt light and airy. Whatever had been bogging him down before seemed to have gone with his earlier revelation, and there was no longer that bitter taste that lingered in his mouth when he admitted to himself that he was able to get along with his genius of a tutor. In fact, he found no problem with it at all.


	5. Chapter 5

Oikawa walked ahead with a light spring in his step, leading the way down the path while simultaneously humming to himself in a cheerful manner. He moved the food in his hand up to his mouth and took a huge bite, avidly chewing at it with obvious satisfaction spreading over his expression.

Following just behind him was his brooding tutor, who appeared to still be grumbling to herself as she had been since they went to Oikawa’s chosen destination for food—the local supermarket near Aoba Johsai.

“How long are you going to be mad, (y/n)-chan?” Oikawa curiously called behind him, after having downed his second piece of milk bread. 

“This isn’t a real meal!” the girl haughtily responded. She disdainfully placed a hand on her stomach before glumly stating, “And I’m starving…”

The setter stopped in his path and turned to the girl, tilting his head in confusion. “That’s why we bought a lot, right? And you have no right to complain, (y/n)-chan. You said I could choose whatever I wanted in compensation for you having stood me up,” he childishly retorted. 

“But I thought you would want actual food,” she impatiently snapped. “Are you really satisfied with just milk bread?”

“I could live off of it!” he immediately answered with an enthusiasm that had the girl flinching in surprise. He then grabbed another piece from the bag he held and bit off a generous portion of it, an overly-pleased look spreading across his face. 

She finally let out an annoyed breath, her shoulders sagging down from her previous tense posture.

“Are you a kid?” she asked with a roll of her eyes. Despite her frustration, she ended up stubbornly marching up to the setter and reached into the bag he held, grabbing a piece for herself. “Don’t hog all of it…” she grumbled before tearing the held slice in half and taking tentative bites from the food. Her eyebrows furrowed together, as if she were deciding whether she was content or not.

Oikawa let out a noise of disproval at the sight and abrasively shook his head towards the girl.

“That’s not how you do it at all, (y/n)-chan! You have to stuff in as much as possible and then let it melt in your mouth,” the setter earnestly explained, with a strictness similar to a mother scolding her child.

The girl simply stared skeptically back at the boy, continuing to chew at her food in torn bits. “I thought your passion was volleyball, not milk bread…” she muttered with a raise of her brow. 

“I’m a man of many passions,” the brunette easily responded—his teasing, honeyed gaze gleaming towards her.

She turned away from his staring, glancing downwards with a small smile playing over her lips. Oikawa curiously watched as a mischievous look soon overtook her expression, her coy grin quickly growing into a perceptive smirk as she gazed up to meet his stare.

“What would your other passions be then?” the girl thoughtfully hummed. “Wait, let me guess—being a playboy? Or maybe ‘annoying others’ is one of your many passions,” she finished, lowering her tone in a mocking gesture towards the volleyball captain. He wasn’t fazed, though. He simply let out a brief chuckle and reached over to playfully poke at the girl’s nose.

“You’ll learn in time, (y/n)-chan~”

The girl grimaced at this, but Oikawa turned on his heels before she could respond and began to merrily make his way down the path again—happily humming a familiar tune and unable to fight the grin that spread on his face as he heard the irritated huff behind him, followed by the sound of scurrying steps chasing after him.

They finally approached the familiar park that the setter used to frequent with his team after practices. Similarly to what he was doing now with her, they would stop by the convenience store and buy snacks before hanging out at the neighboring location.

Though the setter found that he hadn’t really had time to do that lately. Because of this, he found himself to be maybe a bit overly enthusiastic about returning to the nostalgic site. He practically skipped his way over to the swings, falling backwards onto the seat and letting the momentum of his drop swing him backwards.

“Join me, (y/n)-chan!” he called out to the approaching girl, hurriedly gesturing towards the swing beside him.

She sent him an assessing gaze before finally walking over and plopping down onto the seat next to him, using her feet to kick her off into a swaying motion.

“Do you come here a lot?” she curiously inquired, sending a brief glance over to the setter.

Before answering, Oikawa placed his belongings down onto the ground beside him and then kicked off the ground to propel his momentum on the swing.

“Sometimes with the rest of the team before we go home,” he replied, his voice interlacing with the squeaking of the swings as he and the girl beside him fluctuated at an uncoordinated tempo. “But lately I’ve been too busy.”

Silence soon grew over them after his reply, and Oikawa found himself curiously glancing over at the girl. She had stopped swinging and was instead staring hard at the ground below her.

“Oikawa-kun…” she tentatively started, taking a breath and turning to face the setter with a wavering gaze. “I wanted to tell you this earlier. But…I‘m also sorry for judging you so unfairly,” she finally huffed out, her shoulders sagging as if a weight had just been lifted off of them. “You’re sometimes really irritating and childish…but not in the way I actually hate.”

Oikawa practically scoffed at her idea of an apology, but also found the irony of the situation a bit humorous. It looked like the both of them really were more alike than they thought—at least when it came to having prematurely judged one another. 

“You know,” Oikawa started, thoughtfully looking upwards, “I’m pretty sure I said the same thing about you to Iwa-chan the other night,” he chuckled.

The girl immediately snorted at the announcement, and Oikawa found himself glancing towards her with a raised brow. “What?” he questioned.

“Nothing,” she snickered with a hand held over her mouth. “I just think it’s cute that you talk about me with Iwaizumi-san~” the girl admitted, an obviously teasing glint shone in her gaze.

Oikawa’s eyes narrowed at the announcement, and an irritated smile immediately grew onto his face. He reached across the distance of their seats with a quick swipe of his hand and managed to pinch at her cheek.

“Don’t get so full of yourself, (y/n)-chan~” he scorned at her with a devilish grin spread over him.

She slapped his hand away and rubbed at her abused face. “Geez—you’re going to give me a bruise, you know?”

“Serves you right,” he huffed, turning his head away with his nose raised snottily in the air.

“Such a kid…” Oikawa heard the girl irritably grumble beside him. He reached over to grab at her face again, but she easily dodged his grasp.

The setter let out an annoyed huff and then stated matter-of-factly, “You’re not allowed to be mean to me, you know. You’re still compensating for having stood me up.”

“Sorry?” the girl scoffed disbelievingly. “Wasn’t buying you practically a year’s supply of milk bread compensation enough?”

Oikawa let out a loud snort of laughter at this. “Year’s supply? I guarantee this will be gone by tomorrow, if not tonight.”

She narrowly glared at the obstinate setter, an obvious frown of disapproval falling over her lips. “So how exactly am I supposed to repay you, huh?”

The chilling grin that spread across the brunette’s face caused the girls own expression to falter warily. 

Oikawa kicked at the ground and allowed himself to sway backwards. “What should it be~” he hummed to himself.

After a minute of his pondering, he abruptly stopped his momentum by pressing his feet to the ground and stared ahead with a patent look of frustration.

“I feel like a genie just asked me what my final wish is,” he huffed, his eyebrows pulling together from his thwarted judgement. 

“A genie?” she scoffed, soon frowning at the suggestion. “Don’t get your expectations so high.” There was a pause before she finished with, “And you better not request anything perverted either, or I’ll punch you.”

It was Oikawa’s turn to scoff at this. “Like I’d ever ask something like that from you,” he jeered condescendingly. 

The girl merely passed him an obvious look of repulsion in return. “The fact that you’d ask anyone something like that is gross.”

“I was kidding!” he quickly defended himself, sulking at the disapproving glare that continued to be sent to him by the girl beside him. “I’m not some pervy old man, (y/n)-chan!” he whined.

When he was continuously met with an overwhelming silent judgement, he finally let out a frustrated groan and shouted, “Fine, fine—never mind! You don’t owe me anything.”

The girl grinned at this. “Oh? So you can be generous after all, Oikawa-kun~” she playfully mused. 

Oikawa looked away with a pout. He actually did have something that he wanted her to do for him—well, maybe not for him, but…she sort of owed him anyway. Well…she didn’t necessarily owe him anything, but…

Oikawa shook his head.

Whatever, he’d just say it. There was no harm in asking.

The setter glanced back over at the staring girl and then broke away from her gaze again. Watching her stare at him just made it embarrassing.

“I was just going say that you should come cheer me on at our next practice…Since you missed today’s…” he finally muttered, in a quieter tone than usual.

“But I don’t owe you anything, right?” the girl continued to tease, smiling coyly towards the frowning boy.

Oikawa felt his face warm at this. Of course she didn’t really owe him anything—it’s not like she was required to be there or anything. He wouldn’t expect that from any of his friends, but that didn’t take away the fact that he wanted her to see him.

Oikawa absolutely wanted her to go cheer for him and have her watch him play the game that he loved, even if it was just a practice match. He didn’t really know why, but the thought just overwhelmed him with excitement.

He glanced back towards his smiling tutor and pouted more obviously at her. “You can just go and cheer me on because we’re friends, right? So it wouldn’t be because you owe me anything…it would just be a friendly gesture towards your friend.”

She simply snickered in response. “You know, adding ‘friend’ into a sentence fifty times isn’t going to make me give into whatever you want.” 

Oikawa flushed and looked away, a slight scowl playing over his expression. “Your counting skills need some work, (y/n)-chan,” he grumbled dejectedly.

“So when’s your next practice?”

Oikawa froze at this and found himself slowly blinking towards the girl as he took in the question. He sent a long gaze over her, noticing how her eyes shone with obvious delight—a hint of a grin growing on the already existent smirk playing on her lips. He stared at her for only a moment longer before breaking away from her gaze.

“Saturday morning,” he finally responded.

“I’ll be sure to go and cheer you on then,” she confirmed, holding her fist up determinedly and flashing him a cheeky grin. 

The setter bit at his lip to stop his own budding smile that was close to betraying him.

Damn, he bitterly thought. It’s really lame how happy I feel over this. Really, really lame…

He shook his head and let out a slight chuckle before turning to return a smile over to the beaming girl. “I look forward to it.”

Her face seemed to color at this, or maybe it was just his imagination. She broke away from his gaze to glance down at her swaying feet before he could really tell, leaving Oikawa confused over her sudden change in attitude.

“Me too…” she finally replied. 

His brows questioningly furrowed together and, as he was about to ask her what was wrong, a vibrating ‘ping’ interrupted him. He dug through his pocket and pulled out the device to curiously stare at the notification indicating that he had gotten a new text. The setter clicked on the message icon and let out a choking sound of disbelief as he read the message.

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 6:40 PM]  
Hope you’re having fun on your date. Try not to be too annoying.

He openly gawked at the message before a peeved frown spread over his face. His brow twitched irritably as he angrily punched at the buttons on his phone, grumbling under his breath all the while typing out his reply.

[to: Iwa-chan~, 6:41 PM]  
You’re the annoying one, idiot Iwa-chan!!! ( -`д´-)  
Stuuuupid.

After sending the message he shoved it back in his pocket with an annoyed huff, grumpily meeting the gaze of the girl beside him who curiously eyed him. He froze at this and felt his anger melt away into embarrassment.

“Sorry about that,” he sheepishly laughed while awkwardly rubbing at the back of his head. “Iwa-chan’s just being an idiot, as usual.”

The girl snickered in response and Oikawa glanced over with a raised brow.

“He said the same thing about you when I first met him,” she admitted with an amused glint in her expression. 

The setter flinched at this and felt his irritation towards the ace crawl back over him—an irritated sneer twitching over his lips.

I’m so getting him back for this, he grimly thought. 

“Can you pass me another piece of milk bread?” she suddenly asked, breaking Oikawa away from his thoughts of revenge.

“Oh, sure,” he replied while reaching over to grab the bag beneath him. He picked out two pieces and handed one over to the waiting girl, keeping the other for himself.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, peacefully eating their food while staring ahead at the barren park before them. The only sound between the two were the inconsistent squeaks from the swings they swayed on.

Oikawa glanced over towards the girl who tentatively chewed at the bread in her hand. She seemed to be eyeing it inquisitively, still seeming unsure over how she felt about it.

The setter smiled to himself at the sight. He found himself wondering what her own favorite food was. Was it burgers, or was there something else she loved more? There was a lot more he didn’t know about her than what he did. But he didn’t have any reason for him to keep things that way anymore. He was free to find out more about her now, as much as he wanted.

“(Y/n)-chan,” his voice came out before the thought really processed through his head. The girl curiously glanced over at him and she raised a brow, gesturing for him to continue.

“Um,” the setter hummed, not exactly sure where he had planned to go with his conversation. “What’s…What’s your favorite color?” he finally asked, having randomly pulled at the first question to pop in his head.

“Huh?” she practically chortled in response. “That came out of nowhere.”

“I know, but it’s important,” Oikawa insisted towards the confused girl.

She eyed him suspiciously, but gave in anyway. “It’s (f/c).”

Oikawa paused at this before a huge grin spread over his face. “That’s just like you,” he laughed.

She grimaced cagily, seeming put off by his response. “I don’t see how,” she muttered.

There was barely a second of silence before Oikawa shot off with his next question, immediately asking the girl, “What do you do in your free time?”

A tentative smirk grew over her lips and she let out a light snort of amusement. “Are you interrogating me?”

“That would require handcuffs,” Oikawa immediately stated, matter-of-factly. He received a deadpan look of disbelief in response. 

“I’m not sure that’s how it works,” she retorted bluntly. “That’s probably just for whatever kinky stuff you’re into, and I’d honestly rather not find out more.”

“You’re avoiding the question~” Oikawa merrily hummed.

“Take a hint then~” she shot back in the same singing tune he had given her.

Oikawa pouted at this. “(Y/n)-chan!” he whined. “This is important stuff. How can I get through the day not knowing what my adorable tutor does when she isn’t tutoring me?”

The girl’s face flushed over with an obvious red hue at the comment. She broke her gaze away from his, facing the other way before angrily grumbling, “Now you’re just teasing me…”

Oikawa felt a sly grin overtake his expression and he found himself leaning over towards the blushing girl, trying to get a better glance at her colored face.

“You get embarrassed easily, (y/n)-chan~” he mused with obvious amusement.

Her head then abruptly turned back so that she was facing him, their faces suddenly a lot closer than Oikawa had intended. He pulled away and sat back in the swing, his own face warming a bit. The girl didn’t seem to notice his slight fluster as she continued to stare.

“I like to read,” she finally stated.

She maintained a steady gaze, seeming to have been preparing herself for some cutting retort by the setter. Oikawa wondered if she perhaps expected him to say something like, “That’s just studying too!”

Well…he’d be lying if he said that he hadn’t at least thought about saying that. Instead, he simply asked, “What do you like to read?”

She seemed taken aback by the question and broke away from his gaze as she pondered upon the inquiry herself.

“Whatever’s available,” she finally admitted. “But…I guess I can sort of be a sucker for a good love story.”

“Really?” Oikawa mused, a teasing tone laced in his voice. “That’s cute. But I guess every princess wants their prince charming after all, right?”

“Everyone wants to meet their other half eventually,” she corrected. “Don’t pretend you aren’t like that too,” the girl haughtily huffed at him, glancing over with an accusing stare. 

“Of course I am!” Oikawa merrily chimed. “I love being in a relationship. I mean, I get a cute girl that adores me. What’s better than that?”

The girl sent the setter a hard stare and he blinked questioningly in response.

“The way you worded that is really irritating,” she immediately pointed out.

He simply smirked in return and pushed himself off the ground, allowing the swing to carry his body into a sway.

“Have you dated before, (y/n)-chan?” the setter suddenly asked, ignoring his friends previous statement.

He was answered with silence and glanced over to watch the pondering girl stare off towards the ground, her face flushed over and a grimacing expression over her mouth. 

“Sorry Oikawa-kun,” she finally quipped, turning her face away to where he could no longer observe it, “But twenty questions is over for tonight.”

“Is that a ‘no’?” he nosily inquired.

She lifted herself away from the swing and swung her bag over her shoulder before answering. “It’s none of your business.”

“Sooo,” he lifted himself from his seat as well and grabbed for his belongings below him, “I’m going to take that as a ‘no’.”

There was a huff of aggravation in response and Oikawa was met with an annoyed glare. “Why do you care anyway?”

“Just curious,” he shrugged. 

She broke away from his gaze and stared hard at the ground, kicking at the dirt below her and tightly grasping onto the strap of her bag. “Well, I haven’t…” she finally muttered out.

Her face was colored red and she turned every which way, in what looked like an attempt to avoid Oikawa’s watching gaze. He didn’t know why she was so acting self-conscious, though he found her embarrassment to be quite endearing. And, if he was being completely honest with himself, he even felt a bit relieved by the answer.

The boy approached the flushed girl and comfortingly patted the top of her head. She curiously glanced up at him with a slight pout to her frown, eyeing him questioningly.

“That’s nothing to be embarrassed about, (y/n)-chan,” he reassured her, leaning towards her with a small smile.

“Easy for you to say,” she huffed, disdainfully glancing over to the side.

Oikawa frowned at this, letting out a frustrated sigh while moving his hands onto his hips.

“Okaaay,” he started with a huff. “How about this—I’ll tell you a secret of mine, in exchange for you telling me so much about yourself today.”

She peered over at him with obvious interest now transparent in her glittering gaze. “I’m listening…”

Oikawa shot her a quick glance before looking away again.

“Okay, well..." He thought for a moment. ”I’ve never been in love before,” he finally confessed, avoiding her ogling gaze and crossing his arms together in a slight act of defense.

He wasn’t sure what he should have been expecting after his declaration, maybe her teasing or even for her to not care—but what he didn't expect was the immediate disbelief that fell over her expression.

“But…you just said you’ve been in a relationship before,” she incredulously started. 

Oikawa raised a brow at this. “I have.” 

She stared at him through a narrowed, assessing gaze. “Why would you be in a relationship with someone you don’t love?” she asked, her tone suggesting that the mere thought of the situation was completely ridiculous to her. And maybe it was, but Oikawa didn’t really see a problem with it.

He shrugged and shook his head, not really understanding it himself. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, honestly. If I think she’s cute, then why not?”

The girl simply gawked at this, seeming unable to put her thoughts into words as she simply sputtered for a moment. “T-that’s just—how could you do that?” she finally managed to get out. “That’s so shallow and selfish!” 

Oikawa simply frowned, becoming irritated by her aggressive accusations. “How is it selfish? It’s not like I’m not serious about the relationship. And I always treat the girl well.”

“But what’s the point if you don’t love her?” she demanded, her face flushed over with frustration.

Oikawa stared down at the girl through narrowed eyes for a moment. Would she even listen to his point if he were to explain? He saw where she was coming from himself, but he just couldn’t agree with it. Falling in love before being in a relationship was mostly wishful thinking—in his opinion at least.

He let out an exasperated breath of air before starting. “Being interested is enough incentive for me to go out with a person. Wouldn’t it be worse if I didn’t even give them a chance, even while I was admittedly attracted to them?” he questioned the grimacing girl, who continued to send him a hard stare. “Besides, how can I fall in love with someone if I don’t ever spend time with them?”

Her gaze faltered at this. She glanced away uncertainly and seemed to be thinking to herself as silence fell over the pair. Finally, she let out a sigh of defeat, slumping over as the breath left her.

“I guess…But...I can’t really argue since I’ve never been in a relationship myself,” she finally admitted before looking up at Oikawa again and stubbornly huffing to herself with crossed arms. “But I would have to be more than just interested in a person to date them. I’d have to at least care about them too.”

“Well, aren’t you the hopeless romantic type, princess?” he teased, poking the scowling girl on the nose before turning and making his way to the entrance of the park. “Now enough of that. Let’s get you to the station before you miss your train,” he called from over his shoulder.

The girl paused for a moment before jogging to catch up to the setter, falling into pace beside him.

“Sorry for getting so riled up,” she muttered, seeming to be forcing the apology out of her.

“Don’t apologize if you don’t mean it,” Oikawa answered simply.

She flinched at this and sent him an annoyed pout. “I’m apologizing for the way I acted about it, but I still don’t really agree with your mindset on relationships. I may not be as…experienced…as you, but I still have my standards too.”

“And I understand that,” Oikawa casually retorted. He then sent the girl a sidelong glance before smirking at her. “But it’s an adorable idealism that you have,” he teasingly mused. “Your future boyfriend will be lucky to have a girl as romantic as you are~”

Oikawa was expecting the girl to get annoyed at his teasing and was hoping for a flustered reaction, but instead he was met with her downcast gaze and glowing cheeks. She did look genuinely embarrassed, but not in the way he wanted.

“You think so?” she shyly asked, a modest smile playing across her lips.

His brow twitched at this and he found himself now growing irritated at the thought of this hypothetical future boyfriend of hers.

“Well, if you’re lucky enough to find a guy with the same standards, that is,” he huffed while breaking his gaze away from the rosy girl.

She scowled at this, immediately losing the ‘lovey-dovey’ look she had been previously holding. “You don’t think I can find a guy who cares for me?” she huffed.

“I’m sure you will, eventually…” he started. “But most guys don’t share the same ideals as you. They’ll go out with any girl they’re attracted to. Whether they’re in ‘love’ or really care for her comes later.”

The girl simply let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head in frustration. “Let’s just forget about this before I get all riled up again.”

“But you’re so cute when you’re mad~” Oikawa cheerily mused in a singing tone.

“And you’re not cute at all,” she bluntly retorted.

“Don’t lie to me, (y/n)-chan,” Oikawa sulked theatrically. “What happened to me being attractive? I do remember those words leaving your mouth.”

The girl visibly flushed at this and her head angrily snapped in his direction, flushed over with a blatant grimace spread over her lips. In response, he simply attempted to hold back his growing amusement towards the situation.

“You’re evil,” she practically seethed at the chortling brunette.

“You’re cute~” he repeated while patting at her head, another airy laugh escaping him as she angrily swatted at his hand.

Oikawa grinned to himself as the girl beside him continued to crossly grumble under her breath until they reached their destination only minutes later, which seemed to have been just in the nick of time, for the girl’s eyes lit up with obvious relief as she ran over to scan her card. But, before she was able to, she first paused and turned to look back towards the setter.

“Thanks for walking me,” she thanked him with a slight bow.

“Don’t be so formal, it’s embarrassing,” Oikawa lightly scolded. “Now get on the train already before it leaves you,” he hurried her with a wave of his hand.

She simply grinned in response and sent him a brief wave of her own before scanning her card and rushing away down the stairs.

Oikawa watched as she departed into the train before finally turning away and making his way out.

In all honestly, he wished he could have seen her all the way home. It was safer that way, and he wanted to make sure that she got home in one piece. But it looked like this would have to do for now. 

And, if it really bothered him, he could always just text her later…

He nodded to himself at the thought, feeling just a bit more satisfied at the fact, and continued on his way home with a lighter spring back in his step.


	6. Chapter 6

“So you’re in a much better mood today,” Iwaizumi commented towards Oikawa as they made their way down the school hall. The setter sent a glance towards his shorter friend and flinched at the obviously suggestive sneer the ace held on his face.

“Shut up, Iwa-chan!” he loudly complained, looking away with an annoyed huff. “Of course I’m in a good mood. I...had milk bread for breakfast,” the brunette hesitantly finished, crossing his arms together defiantly while he tried his best to ignore the speculative stare being shot at him.

“Oh, so it wasn’t (y/n)-sans doing? Could have fooled me,” the ace shrugged nonchalantly, the tone of his voice heavily implying that he really wouldn’t believe any other reason. Oikawa frowned at the implication. 

“You’ve been so annoying lately,” the setter grunted, sending his smiling friend an accusing glare. “Like that text you sent me last night? Seriously, it’s not like that between me and (y/n)-chan." 

“Ah, really?” Iwaizumi responded with mock realization, looking over towards Oikawa with sarcastic eyes. “That’s good then. You know, you should tell Yahaba that. I don’t think he’s convinced. Maybe if he hears it come sincerely from you, he’ll go and ask her out. Then I wouldn’t have to bother you about it anymore.”

Oikawa felt his stomach twist at the thought—his brow irritably twitching at both the suggestion and the feigned look of innocence plastered over his friends face. It really didn’t suit someone like him at all.

“It’s not a big deal, right?” Iwaizumi continued to press. “Since it’s not like ‘that’ between you and (y/n)-san.”

Oikawa looked away stubbornly, the edge of his lip curving into an obstinate frown. “It isn’t—but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give Yahaba-kun my blessing!”

The ace snorted at this. “Are you her dad now?” he asked his friend with a raised brow. Oikawa scowled and stuck his tongue out childishly towards his friend, who immediately cringed in response.

“Yahaba-kun can’t go out with (y/n)-chan ‘cause I said so, and that’s that. Stuuupid.”

With that, the brunette strode ahead making a point to be loud in his angry spectacle, and he just as soon found himself being scolded by a teacher from the classroom beside them. Oikawa quickly apologized to the stern-looking adult and sent an annoyed glare towards the snickering ace behind him. The teacher practically slammed the door in the setter’s face, and the boy slowly turned towards his chortling friend.

“Iwa-chan, are you a sadist?” he irritably muttered under his breath. 

“I think you’re just an idiot,” his friend almost immediately answered.

Oikawa grimaced at this. As he opened his mouth to start with a disapproving retort, he suddenly noticed a familiar figure further down the hall—lunchbox in hand and unknowingly making her way towards them.

“(Y/n)-chan!” the brunette instantly called out, obvious glee bouncing in his voice. He caught himself for a second and sent a quick, wary glance towards his friend. The ace was looking down towards the girl himself, thankfully not having noticed Oikawa’s enthusiastic slip (or maybe he just didn’t feel the need to comment on it).

The girl jumped at the sudden greeting and her startled gaze fell over to where the two stood. A look of recognition replaced her previous surprise, and a grin soon grew over her own face. She sent a tentative wave in their direction.

“Hi Oikawa-kun,” she called out while walking towards the duo, soon after sending Iwaizumi a friendly smile and nod. “Hey Iwaizumi-san.”

“What’s up, (y/n)-san?” his friend coolly responded, greeting the girl with a casual nod of his own. “Going to meet with your friends for lunch?”

Oikawa noticed how she visibly flinched at this and he let out a loud chortle—swiftly moving to pat the girl on her back in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, but the action only made the girl tense more.

“What are you saying Iwa-chan, don’t you know this girl is completely hopeless at making friends?” he proclaimed, almost too eagerly. The girl before him immediately illuminated red at the statement, much to Oikawa’s amusement. She snapped her head towards the setter and sent him a warning look through narrowed eyes.

Iwaizumi simply raised his brow at the spectacle, curiously watching the scene play out before him. 

“Don’t look at me like that, (y/n)-chan~” Oikawa cooed, ruffling at the sullen girl’s head. “Besides, you’re going to eat with us today, right?”

Her expression took an immediate turn, brightening into transparent interest at the suggestion. Oikawa grinned to himself as the girl turned away in attempt to hide her anticipation. 

“Well, if you’d both allow me, then I guess I’m fine with that. I guess.” she replied, glancing every which way in her frigid modesty.

Oikawa laughed at this. “You said ‘I guess’ a lot there, (y/n)-chan,” he mused while reaching out to tap her nose, but was instantly rejected by the swat of her hand.

“Shut up,” she quietly seethed through her teeth, sneaking him a burning look. This only caused Oikawa’s amusement to grow more. He turned towards Iwaizumi, pointing at the pouting girl with a grin spread on his face.

“Iwa-chan, don’t you think she—” He froze mid-question as he met the ace’s gleaming smirk that screamed ‘not like that my ass.’ 

Oikawa grimaced and found himself instantly stepping away from the girl, composing himself while clearing his throat.

“Right…So you’re cool with her eating with us, right Iwa-chan?” he finished, maybe more gruffly than necessary.

Iwaizumi sent him a narrowed look, as if asking, ‘Seriously?’ before rolling his eyes at the setter. He turned away and led the way down the corridor, shouting over his shoulder, “Of course. Now let’s go while we still have time to eat.”

Oikawa glanced over at the girl and she sent him an obvious look of delight, causing him to grimace before he turned away.

Seriously, Iwaizumi was misinterpreting he and (y/n)’s interactions completely. They were just being friendly. There was nothing more to it.

But…maybe he had to watch how he acted from now on, just in case more people than just Iwaizumi started to get the wrong idea.

Oikawa stepped forward and hurried to catch up with the boy striding ahead. He called out behind him for the girl to hurry as well without sparing her a look back, missing the confused expression that masked her face.

. . .

Oikawa slowly poked at the bread he was eating, painfully aware of how tense he was currently being. He hadn’t been aware of just how much attention he gave to his tutor until Iwaizumi’s recent harassment over it, and it was honestly no wonder his friend suspected that he had some weird intentions in mind. Thinking back on it, everything Oikawa did seemed questionable.

So, throughout the remainder of their lunch period, Oikawa had to constantly catch himself from doing something that might be misinterpreted as infatuation. The thing was, it felt so unnatural to him.

He wanted to pick on (y/n) and watch her squirm unnecessarily by his teasing words. He wanted to swipe food from her lunch and see whether she would get mad or not—knowing that he’d almost one-hundred percent get scolded in the process. He wanted to flick at her nose, ruffle at her hair, and just normally interact with her like he had grown used to. But what he didn’t want was to see that goddamn condescending sneer that always grew on Iwaizumi’s face when Oikawa did any of the above.

Oikawa sighed to himself disdainfully, in result receiving a muddled look from the girl beside him and an obviously irritated stare from the ace.

“Hey (y/n)-san,” Iwaizumi started, not wavering the direction of his glare from the setter seated ahead. Oikawa’s eyes narrowed, and he gazed back warily. What was he planning on doing now?

The girl sent the ace a questioning look, glancing between the two uneasily. “Um, yeah, what’s up?”

“Don’t you think Oikawa’s acting weird?” the ace questioned.

She looked surprised by the random question, but her brows kneaded together and she slowly nodded. “Yes, actually. I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but he’s definitely not himself.”

“Right?” Iwaizumi enthused, finally breaking away from his glaring contest with Oikawa to nod at the girl beside him. “What do you think it is?”

“Hellooo,” Oikawa sarcastically sang out, waving his hand out. “Not sure if you guys forgot, but I’m right here,” he huffed.

“I’m not sure,” the girl continued, ignoring the setter’s outburst. “But I guess he isn’t being as annoying as usual.”

Oikawa’s face dropped at this and Iwaizumi let out a snort before breaking into a laughing fit. The setter glared at his chortling friend and then back at the girl beside him.

“That’s cruel, (y/n)-chan!” he complained, his face flushing at the comment, much to his disdain.

As much as he hated to admit it, her saying that actually stroke a chord with him. He knew that she found him to be annoying before, but they both pretty much hated each other at that point. He thought they were at least past that by now, but if he was still just a nuisance then he seriously did need to watch what he—

He found himself breaking away from his thoughts as soon as he noticed the teasing gleam in her gaze and the small smile playing on her lips.

“I’m kidding, Oikawa-kun,” she laughed before leaning towards the staring brunette. He tensed at her movement and found himself frozen as she poked him on the nose. “If I found you seriously annoying, I wouldn’t be here,” she stated matter-of-factly.

There was a pause of silence and Oikawa couldn’t do anything but stare at her teasing smile in that moment, finding the annoying warmth spreading over his face at her little action to be bothering him much more than he’d like. Iwaizumi’s snickers from the side also didn’t help.

The setter quickly shook his head to compose himself and snottily turned his face away, immaturely pouting to himself. “Of course I know that, how could you find me annoying anyway? Me being your only friend and all.”

The girl flinched at this and irritable frown grew over her face. “I take it back, you are definitely just as annoying today as ever.”

Oikawa snickered and turned to her, tapping at her nose. “Can’t take it back now~” he mused. “Also, don’t steal my signature move. Only I can poke you on the nose, got it?” He stuck his tongue out at her mockingly.

“Fine then,” the girl smirked, quickly reaching for Oikawa’s face. He tried to move himself back but was too slow and soon felt a sharp pain across his forehead as she flicked him. “That’s going to be my signature move then,” she laughed. 

Oikawa exaggeratedly grasped at his forehead. “Owww, that hurt (y/n)-chan!” he whined. “I can’t have you beating me too, Iwa-chan already gets too much joy from that!”

Iwaizumi exchanged a look with the girl before sending her a determined nod. “You can take over when I’m not around.”

She laughed at this, moving a hand over her mouth in the process. Oikawa frowned and let out a huff of annoyance.

“Damn sadists,” he grumbled under his breath. Soon after the comment, he found himself grimacing in pain over the quick kick to his shin that was directed from underneath the table, the ace across from him smiling all the while. 

. . .

Lunch quickly passed and Oikawa found that he had just as soon returned to acting as he normally did with no more sly comments or looks from the ace. The group began to make their way back to class when Iwaizumi stopped to turn to the two.

“You guys go ahead of me. I need to do something else before class,” his shorter friend spoke, gesturing them ahead with a wave of his hand.

“Okay?” Oikawa answered questioningly. This was a first for Iwaizumi, so he was more suspicious than anything. “What do you have to do?”

“Stuff,” the ace answered dismissively while turning away. Oikawa’s brow twitched irritably at the response.

“See you (y/n)-san!” Iwaizumi casually waved before making his way down the hall.

“Is something wrong?” the girl asked, curiously eyeing the annoyed-looking setter. He huffed and turned away, making his way down the crowded hall yet again.

“It’s nothing,” he replied. Oikawa was probably just overthinking things anyway.

As they walked to the end of the hall, the girl paused and pointed down the opposite direction of Oikawa’s class.

“Well, I need to go this way. I’ll meet you after school at the—” she paused at this and a look of surprise crossed her face. “Oh wait, it’s Friday!” she exclaimed.

Oikawa raised a brow in confusion at her. “Yeah, and?”

“The library closes early today. I completely forgot,” she held her hand to her chin in a pondering matter before glancing up at Oikawa. “Where should we go to study instead?”

Oikawa thought back to when he had first suggested that they could go study at his place on Friday’s, and how she had immediately hated the idea. But, then again, he wasn’t fond of the idea then either. She wouldn’t mind anymore now, right?

Before he could even ask to find out, she held her finger up in sudden realization. “Oh, would we still be able to go to your place?” 

“You want to?” he curiously asked.

She tilted her head at this. “Sure, why not? It would be way quieter than going to another restaurant, right?”

Oikawa glanced up thoughtfully, crossing his arms. “Yeah, I suppose, but…”

“But what?” she questioned, leaning towards him. Oikawa glanced at her in confusion and grew wary as he noticed the devious grin spreading over her lips. “Did you not hide your naughty magazines yet?” she teased.

Oikawa visibly flinched at this and practically slapped his hand over her mouth, feeling her grinning from underneath his touch.

“Can you say that any louder!?” he demanded in a low hush, glancing around to make sure no one over-heard her comment. If anything, people seemed to only notice the scene he was currently causing. He let her go and crossed his arms instead. “People are going to think you’re serious if they heard you. I have a reputation to uphold here, you know?” he whispered harshly. 

She simply laughed in response. “Well, if there are none, then there’s no problem. Right?”

He grimaced at her mischievous look and turned away with a pout. “It should be a rule that only I can do the teasing in this relationship.”

Her eyes widened at this, and Oikawa just as soon realized how his words could have been misinterpreted.

“F-friendship!” he hastily corrected. “That’s what I meant by ‘relationship’—don’t get all weird!” 

She frowned at him and crossed her arms together stubbornly. “I’m not, you’re the one acting weird.”

Oikawa flinched at her words and froze. He lowered his hands that had previously been waving about defensively and gave an awkward cough to clear his throat. It was a little out of character for him to freak out so much over something dumb like that. Maybe he was still tense over everything that had happened earlier with Iwaizumi…

Oikawa let out a heavy breath and lightly shook his head.

He just needed to calm down. He was being an idiot, which seemed to be turning into sort of a routine act for him when it came to being around this tutor of his. He just needed to act like he would with anyone else. The way he would normally act with her. And if he was sure about anything when it came to their relationship, it was that he loved to make her uncomfortable.

The girl continued to carefully eye the quiet setter, tensing when he finally moved to close the distance between the two. He reached out to ruffle at her hair.

“You’re right, (y/n)-chan,” he apologetically started. “I am being weird, aren’t I?”

She raised a brow at him and simply stared at him in response.

Oikawa smiled and leaned towards the girl, moving his lips close to her ear. “But you were actually right, you know?” he whispered, noticing how she tensed as his warm breath made contact with her skin.

“What are you talking about?” she stuttered out, moving to push at Oikawa’s chest in attempt to further the distance between them, but he grabbed hold of her hand, ceasing her movement as he continued.

“You were right about earlier,” he started again, a devious smirk playing on his lips. “I haven’t had time to put away my ‘naughty magazines’.”

He was almost immediately shoved after this, laughing loudly at how her face fumed with embarrassment along with her angrily clenched fists.

“But you’re okay with that, right?” he continued to shout after her as she stormed away. “You can borrow some if you like!”

“Go to hell!” she shot back without sparing him another look.

Oikawa grinned and waved after her disappearing figure, the remaining students wandering the halls glancing curiously at him. “See you later, (y/n)-chan!”

. . .

[to: (y/n), 3:00 PM]  
(y/n)-chan! ^^  
Meet me at the gate! Then we’ll go to my place~

Oikawa glanced at his phone five minutes after sending the text and then looked up to gaze around at all the passing students. There were several rushing around to whatever club activities they had, most of them dressed in their gym uniforms. Then there were the random clusters of the ’go-home club’ students, who were rushing through the gate entrance in chattering groups.

Every once and awhile, Oikawa would spot a lone figure walking and found himself unconsciously straightening himself thinking it was (y/n), only to slump back against the gates-column in disappointment as he realized it was someone else.

Should he text her again? Call her? She wasn’t in her classroom when he went looking for her, and none of her classmates knew where she was. A few of them didn’t even remember who she was (which shouldn’t have surprised Oikawa, yet he had pitied her in that moment anyway).

The vibration in his pocket broke him from his thoughts, and he quickly moved to snap out his phone.

[fr: (y/n), 3:10 PM]  
Coming.

Oikawa chuckled at the message before sliding his phone back into his pocket. She seriously sucked at texting. He preferred it when people weren’t so serious with their messages, it sometimes mislead him to think that they were irritated. He was only used to Iwaizumi texting him like that, because that was how he had always done it.

“Oikawa-senpai!”

Oikawa glanced over to see a group of girls tentatively approaching him. They looked like they were underclassmen, probably second-years. He shot them a flashing smile and waved.

“Hi~” he called out in a singing tone.

They smiled tentatively back at him and then exchanged embarrassed glances with one another. Oikawa noticed how they struggled to keep eye-contact with him, choosing instead to glance down at their shuffling feet.

“Um, does the team not have practice today, Oikawa-san?” the one with sleek, black hair asked.

Oikawa sheepishly rubbed at the back of his head. “There is practice today, just not for me,” he chuckled. “I miss out on practice on Wednesday’s and Friday’s for tutoring.”

They all looked shocked by this.

“Oikawa-senpai, you need tutoring?” the one with braids exclaimed, as if the mere thought was really that unbelievable.

“Yeah," Oikawa chuckled awkwardly. "Sometimes I dedicate so much time to practicing volleyball, that I don’t make enough time for subjects that I’m not so great at. But having a tutor makes it a lot easier to actually dedicate time to studying,” he finished with a smile, soon after leaning against the column behind him while shoving his hands into his pockets.

He glanced around again and there was still no sight of (y/n). What was taking her so long?

“Ah, I understand that. You’re already as busy as it is,” the black haired one nodded shyly. They both then looked at the girl in the middle, the one with short blonde hair who still hadn’t said a word. She glanced up uncertainly and then back down again.

Oikawa titled his head. “So, what’s up? Did you guys need my help with something?” he asked.

He watched as they lightly pushed the girl ahead, and she slowly moved to pull something from her schoolbag—a neatly wrapped pouch of what looked like some sort of goody, and a sight Oikawa was pretty accustomed to seeing. 

“W-we made these for you,” the short-haired girl managed to get out, her two friends besides her smiling proudly at her.

Oikawa grinned at the small girl and graciously took the bag, opening it and grabbing what he now recognized as a cookie from it.

“Oh, wow~” he exclaimed in exaggerated awe. “These are very cute,” he complimented, twisting the star shape around in his fingers before throwing the bite-sized snack into his mouth.

They group of girls eyed him expectantly. After a moment of him carefully chewing the food and notably swallowing, the setter then let out an obvious noise of approval, shooting the ogling group a victory sign.

“Delicious~!” he hummed.

They all beamed at this and exchanged happy looks with one another before smiling back up at him again. “Thank you, Oikawa-san! We’re so glad that you like it!”

“Thank you guys for making them for me,” Oikawa replied with a grin, resulting in their flushing faces.

“Well, we’ll leave you be now,” they braided girl spoke, followed by them all bowing awkwardly together towards him, muttering their thanks. They finally turned then and sent him a final wave.

“Good luck with your studies!” the blonde enthused as they walked through the gate.

Oikawa smiled after them and waved. “Thanks! Bye bye~!”

The three turned to one another and beamed, speaking excitedly with each other as they walked away, thought they were too far away for him to make sense of their words.

Oikawa glanced down at the pouch of cookies and grinned to himself before pulling out his phone. Holding the nicely-decorated bag by his face, he stuck his tongue out and snapped a selfie. He glanced at the photo and then posed to take another. Then another. Then one more, and another after that.

Finally satisfied, he tapped away on his phone, sending an attachment of his favorite picture to Iwaizumi and quietly laughing to himself as it loaded to send through.

Iwaizumi hated when Oikawa received gifts from girls, because he was convinced that the setter didn’t deserve any of the attention. It only made it more amusing for Oikawa when he did receive any presents, because he got the bonus gift of rubbing it all in Iwaizumi's face. 

After sending the picture, he impatiently stared at his phone, waiting for the angry response he knew he was going to get back. Just as he was about to send one of his other photos, the sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention.

Looking up, his eyes grew wide as he saw (y/n) approaching him in her gym uniform. It was weirdly casual, seeing her dressed in just a plain shirt and shorts. 

“Sorry I took so long,” she huffed, tossing her bag onto the opposite shoulder. “I had coffee spilled on me while helping out one of the teachers.”

“Sounds fun,” Oikawa commented, turning his attention away from her outfit. “Well, I got cookies from some of fans,” he bragged, immediately holding up the pouch enthusiastically.

She stared at the bag blankly and then quickly swiped at one of the treats. Oikawa let out a noise of disapproval and pulled it away possessively. “Hey, I didn’t say you could have any!”

Though his complaints were to no avail, for the girl was already happily munching at the snack, her face lighting up in delight. “Delicious!” she mused.

Oikawa pouted at this. “Dirty thief…”

She wiped at her mouth and crossed her arms at him. “You owed me anyway, for being such a pervert during lunch.”

“What, you’re still mad about that?” Oikawa asked with a raise of his brow.

“Of course,” she responded, as if it were a matter-of-fact. “How creepy is it for someone to get in your personal space like that? And, not only that, but to then whisper to you about their perverted belongings.”

“Magazines,” Oikawa immediately corrected, resulting in an annoyed glare and the familiar stinging sensation on his forehead. He rubbed at his wound and frowned. “I never agreed to that flicking thing,” he muttered.

“It was never a matter of agreement,” she quickly retorted. Oikawa pouted at this. Ignoring him, the shorter girl made her way past the entrance and looked back over her shoulder. “So, are you going to lead the way?”

The setter stared after the smiling girl and let out a breath. “I suppose.”

He slowly strode up to the girl and then quickly flicked her nose before rushing ahead, barely dodging her flying fist as he bounced forward with high laughter. 

. . .

After a lot of bickering and nagging, the two finally made it to his home. Once in front of the building, the girl was silenced, appearing to be marveling over the sight before her. He raised a brow at her in confusion. There really wasn’t anything special about it, it was just like every other—

Oh wait.

His mouth dropped open in realization. “This is you first time going to a friend’s house!” he blatantly stated.

The girl groaned at this and glanced at him with disbelieving eyes. “You really need to get over the idea that you’re my first friend. Do you seriously think that’s possible?” 

“Then how come you accepted it before?” Oikawa argued.

“I never said that you were my first friend ever,” she defensively huffed. “But…it’s not a lie that I don’t know too many people that well at school now…”

The setter smirked at this, leaning towards the embarrassed girl. “So, I’m you first real high school friend?” he inquired.

She glared to the side for a second but eventually sighed in defeat. “I guess…You’re the first who’s gone past ‘acquaintance’ at least.”

Oikawa couldn’t help but grin at this, finding it impossible to be able to hide the blatant joy he found at the statement. To be somebodies ‘first’ like that made him feel special, in a way. And the fact that it was (y/n) somehow made it even more gratifying.

As Oikawa opened the gate entrance, he held it open for the girl behind him. "And don’t forget about Iwa-chan,” he suddenly chimed. 

“What do you mean?” the girl questioned as she made her way through the entrance and towards the house door. Oikawa followed after her, searching in his bag for his key.

“Don’t forget that he counts as a friend too. I mean, I know that he likes you—” he suddenly stopped himself and quickly looked up at the staring girl next to him. “Erm, but not like that,” he quickly added.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Of course. Stop assuming that I’m going to assume things.”

Oikawa laughed sheepishly at this, not willing to admit that the confirmation was more for his own sake than hers.

He finally fished out his key and stuck it into the knob, twisting it to the side and pushing his door open. As he stepped in, he already knew something was off. None of the lights were on, suggesting that there was nobody around.

He pushed his shoes off and glanced around. “Hello? I’m home!”

The only sound of reply were shuffling noises coming from behind him as (y/n) set her shoes aside.

And that’s when it hit him.

He was never home at this time—he was always busy with something volleyball-related after school. He was so used to someone in his family being home by the time he got back, that he didn’t even think to consider where they would be this early in the day.

He glanced nervously back at (y/n) who was curiously looking around the entrance way.

Would she be mad that nobody else was home? Would she think he was some pervert that tricked her into coming to his house alone with him?

Her gaze finally met his, and he found hat he was bracing himself. Her head tilted in confusion at his tense posture.

“What’s wrong?”

Oikawa let out a nervous laugh and rubbed at his neck. “Looks like nobody's home,” he sheepishly stated.

“Oh,” the girl started, looking around again. “Well, I guess that’s to be expected. It’s a bit early, huh?”

Oikawa’s shoulders physically slumped in relief at her words, and she curiously eyed him, raising her brow questioningly at his actions. He immediately straightened himself and shot a grin at her. “Sorry, do you want to head up to my room now?”

“Okay,” she nodded.

Oikawa moved toward the stairs and made his way up them as slowly as he possibly could, without bringing any more unnecessary attention to himself. They silently trekked there way to the second floor, the quietness making the trip feel a lot longer than it actually was.

The situation was…weird. And he didn't know why. 

Oikawa had had girls over before. He had had his past girlfriends over before. So why did he feel so on edge now? Perhaps the fact that they were the only two people in the house really bothered him...Well, it certainly didn't help anything at least. 

They finally made it to the top of the stairs, and Oikawa led the way to his room. Opening the door for her, he turned the light on and let her walk in first.

“Very clean,” she commented. Oikawa wasn’t sure if he should feel offended over how surprised she sounded while saying that.

“Did you think I would actually have porn laying around everywhere?” he snorted, leaving the door open behind him as he settled in front of the small desk in the middle of his room.

She laughed at that and moved to sit beside him, laying her bag beside her and digging through it, soon pulling out book after book. “I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect.”

“Well, it’s nothing too exciting. Sorry to get your hopes up,” he replied, following her lead and taking out his own study material. “Next time, I’ll be sure to leave something exciting out for you.”

“Looking forward to it,” she quipped, seeming distracted by the stack of papers she was shuffling through.

After a moment of silence, she laid some sheets in front of him. “Here, do these.”

Oikawa glanced over them and nodded to himself. “Alllright,” he droned. ”Straight to business then.”

There were a couple minutes of concentration, but Oikawa soon found himself getting distracted by the silence. He couldn’t stop his racing thoughts over being alone in his house with (y/n). It was just so weird. And what was even weirder was that she didn’t seem bothered at all. 

Oikawa took in a deep breath and shook his head, attempting to concentrate back on his work. He shouldn’t let himself be distracted by unnecessary stuff.

He stared back down at his work before him, not even half-way finished. He sighed at the fact and quickly glanced at the sitting girl beside him, instantly regretting the decision. She simply sat fixated on the textbook ahead of her, but the sight seemed to set the reality of their situation in deeper and made his nerves run haywire.

Why had she sat next to him? She was almost ridiculously close to him. Okay, maybe that was exaggeration, but she could have sat across from him. 

He looked back down at his paper and tried to concentrate, but, when that failed, he glanced down at his tapping pencil. Then over at the girl again. Then at the clock. Then at the books ahead of him, and then at the girl once more. He found himself jumping slightly as he was met with her returning stare.

Her eyebrows pulled together with obvious confusion, and she tilted her head in an almost assessing way.

“What’s with you?” she asked.

Oikawa mentally cursed himself for acting so unnatural before sheepishly rubbing at the back of his head. “What do you mean?” he asked. 

“Do you need to use the bathroom or something?” the girl inquired with a questioning frown. “It’s your own place, so don’t feel bad for leaving me unattended,” she shrugged before reaching into her bag to pull out her pencil bag. 

Oikawa inwardly scoffed at this. This girl was seriously dense sometimes. Also, she seemed way to comfortable being alone with him. Not that he had any ill intentions, but that’s something he knew—she was just assuming.

The setter found his eyes narrowing disdainfully at the sudden thought that the girl before him was this lax with any guy, not just him.

The mere thought had his skin crawling with irritation. 

“Oh,” the girl suddenly chimed. “Don’t tell me that you’re scared I’ll snoop through your room,” she coyly chuckled, her eyes practically grinning with amusement. “So are you hiding embarrassing stuff after all, Oikawa-kun?”

Oikawa snorted at the suggestion. Then, after a thought, he turned to smirk at the girl, leaning towards her carefully. He saw the waver in her own expansive attitude and stopped a comfortable distance away. 

“So you really are interested in that sort of stuff?” he asked, a playful glint shining in his gaze. “If you wanted to see them so badly, you should have just asked. Actually, I can go get them right now—“

The girl desperately grabbed at his arm as he moved to reach towards his drawers.

“N-no, that’s fine!” she practically squeaked, her cheeks glowing at the suggestion. “I was kidding!”

Oikawa burst out laughing at this, causing the hold on his arm to slacken as the girl's expression went from mortified to glowing irritation.

“I’m teasing you, of course,” he laughed, unconsciously leaning closer to her, reaching up to affectionately rub at her head. 

He suddenly froze at his action and awkwardly made eye contact with the girl whose face suddenly seemed way closer than it had been previously. He instantly turned away and stood up in one fluent motion—even going as far as to take a step back. 

“Uh, but I do have to go to the bathroom,” he quickly started, walking towards his door and trying to ignore the blatant muddled look of confusion that followed after him. “I’ll be right back.”

He had begun to make his exit but then paused, thinking how he had better add something before she grew concerned and searched for him.

After a second of thought, he turned back towards the girl, saying, “If you’re looking for the goods, they’re in the second drawer, ‘kay?” With that, he shot her a quick, cheeky victory sign and finally slipped out of his room.

When out of sight, Oikawa’s hand immediately shot up to his face, hovering over to try and cover the sudden red veil that had fallen over it. It was like he could feel the heat radiating off of his face and onto his hand.

What was that just now?

Sure, Oikawa had been used to teasingly ruffling at the girl’s head—but that just now was not like the other times. He hadn’t done it as a joke, he hadn’t even done it with any prior thought at all. His hand had just moved on its own—out of its own desire. And…he had felt this undeniably weird pleasure from the contact.

The setter stood in frustrated wonder for a moment longer before he let out an irritated sigh and shook his head.

It was just too annoying to think about…But he felt like he’d go crazy if he went back in there without anything resolved in his mind.

Almost instinctively, his hand reached towards his pocket and he pulled out his phone.

He would just ask Iwaizumi. He could knock some sense into him. Whether it was through rapid insults or blunt retorts—honestly, right now, Oikawa just wanted to hear his friend call him an idiot desperate for attention. He just really needed that confirmation.

As he clicked to try and send a message, he then noticed that he had gotten a reply earlier from Iwaizumi. Oikawa had almost forgotten about that cookie selfie he had sent.

He clicked on the message and stared down at his phone.

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 3:45 PM]  
Are you finally confessing to (y/n)-san with those?  
Good luck.

Oikawa simply stared at the text for a moment before silently putting it back into his pocket.

Iwaizumi would be no help. This would only be the finishing blow in their argument over him having feelings for…

Oikawa paused at the thought and glanced back down at his hand, thinking about his odd behavior, the nervousness, and the sensational warmth from earlier. 

Did…Did he actually—

“Hey Oikawa-kun! I’m eating your cookies okay?” the shout echoed from his room and down the hall. “Oh, and if you don’t hurry and do your work I’m going to cut all your porn up!”

No.

Iwaizumi was full of shit.

Oikawa definitely didn’t like this girl. Every girl he had ever liked or gone out with before have all had the similar traits of being refined, delicate, graceful, and just lady-like in general. She was none of those things. In fact, sometimes it seemed as if she strived to be anything but. And she was his friend. She was his first actual female friend. There was no point in muddling up their relationship over something as shallow as thinking she was kind of cute. 

But she was cute. There was no denying that. So, that definitely played a role in why he felt so weird around her. But he couldn’t really help thinking she was cute, now could he?

With this in mind, Oikawa wandered back down the hall and peered inside of his room. As she had announced earlier, she sat jotting down notes on her paper while eating away at his cookies. He frowned at this and walked back into the room.

“Hey, (y/n)-chan?” he asked, plopping down beside her. She glanced over at him and raised a brow in question. He stared at her, analyzing everything and anything about her apperance.

Her chewing slowed and her eyes narrowed at his excessive staring. “What?” she asked, almost defensively.

“Do you think it’s weird that I think you’re cute?” he suddenly asked. She nearly choked at this, excessively coughing to the point where she had to turn away to get down the rest of her food.

“What?” she finally exclaimed, looking back in blatant confusion.

“You told me before that I’m attractive, but not because you have feelings for me. Right?”

She groaned at this. “Why do you insist on still bringing that up?”

“The point,” he continued, “is that the same concept can be applied for me. Don’t you think?”

She stared at him through narrowed eyes, seemingly trying to asses where his questions had even come from.

“Are you making fun of me?” she suddenly asked.

He looked at her in bewilderment, immediately shaking his head. “What? No. Where did it sound like I was making fun of you in anything I just said?” he questioned with a roll of his eyes.

“Well, you just called me attractive out of nowhere,” she started as if it should have been obvious.

“Never mind,” Oikawa muttered begrudgingly with a sigh. “I guess the question was kind of dumb anyway.”

She snorted in response. “More like unexpected…” She then paused for a moment and nonchalantly leaned her head onto her propped-up hand. “But…I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, if you want me to be honest,” she finally finished. 

Oikawa sent a long side glance towards the now flushed girl, eyeing her expectantly. She fidgeted under his stare and then glanced back and forth between him and the table.

“Will you stop that!” she finally let out.

Oikawa blinked in confusion. “What?”

“Staring at me all the time! It’s…weird,” she muttered, face colored over as she stared uncomfortably at her hands.

Oikawa paused at this and a grin slowly took over the corners of his mouth.

She glanced over towards him warily and raised a brow. “What?”

“Nothing. Well, I don’t know,” he laughed to himself. “I was just freaking myself out earlier thinking it was weird for me to get flustered over dumb stuff. But you get the same way when I do certain things too, huh?”

She frowned at this, her cheeks still a warm hue from their previous conversation. “Yeah…Well, I’m not used to having attractive guy friends.”

He chuckled at this and openly ruffled at her head, doing so without any inner repercussion at the action. “I’m the same way when it comes to girls. I’m usually just stuck in the role of being fawned over or pursuing a girl I think is pretty. So, this is just something we both have to get used to, huh?” he grinned. 

She casually pushed his hand away and shot him a teasing smile. “Your lack of personal space is definitely something to get used to.” He moved to pinch at her cheek in response, and she immediately slapped the motion down. “And you have to get used to getting work done first and then getting distracted later, alright?” she lightly scolded while pushing his work back in front of him.

“Okay, mom,” he replied with a role of his eyes. He paused for a moment at a thought, and then sent a sly smile towards the girl. “But first—” he swiftly tugged out his phone and just as quickly wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling the girl beside him and pressing his cheek against hers with a picture-perfect smile plastered on his face. “Smile!” he exclaimed before immediately snapping a picture.

The girl pushed herself away from Oikawa’s grip and let out an annoyed huff of breath. “Geez, I know I said I had to get used to it, but at least warn me first.”

Oikawa ignored her grumbling and laughed heartily at the resulted photo. “Look at your face,” he chortled, shoving the phone over towards the frowning girl.

She sent him an annoyed look, but was soon fighting back her own smile as she looked at the screen.

“Please delete that,” she whined, reaching for the device in front of her.

“No way,” Oikawa hummed, pulling the phone away from her grasping hands. “This is blackmail material right here.”

“C’mon!” she exclaimed desperately. “Oikawa, that’s not fair! Can’t we at least take a cuter one right now to replace it?”

“Nooope,” he affirmed, staring back down at the photo again with a cheeky grin. He looked as picturesque as he usually did in the image, but it was (y/n)’s look of genuine surprise that really made it special. And, as ridiculous as she did look, the way her cheeks flushed while pressed against his own was a sight that brought him an almost unnecessary amount of joy.

He continued to grin stupidly at the photo, missing the daggers the girl beside him was sending at him.

“You’re terrible,” she finally huffed with a shake of her head. “But, whatever. Can we get back to work now, please?”

Oikawa clicked his phone off and shoved it back into his pocket. “Sure thing,” he beamed. “But if I get everything right in this next exercise set, I get another picture.”

The girl raised a brow at the challenge and smiled slyly, shooting the enthusiastic boy a shrug. “I won’t have to worry about it then.”

His eyes narrowed at this. “Alright, well, just remember to smile this time, okay?” he confidently responded.

With that, he stared determinedly down at the work before him and set out to get through it flawlessly. Whether it was the thought of seeing the surprise on her face or the idea of getting a serious picture with the girl, all Oikawa knew at the moment was that he seriously enjoyed the new light and airy atmosphere that surrounded them.


	7. Chapter 7

Loud, resonating beats played throughout the Seijou gymnasium, the rhythmic sound echoing far enough to be heard inside the nearby dressing rooms. Oikawa listened to the muffled noise while stooped over his shoe, tying and pulling at the strings in hand until a knot finally resulted.

He grabbed at his bag then, moving it onto the chair at the side of the room while pulling his phone from it. Pressing at the power button, the screen illuminated before him and he couldn’t fight the sudden cheesy smile that pulled at his lips.

Displayed as his wallpaper was his newly prized picture—one that had been awarded to him the night before. As he stared at the image of him and the smiling girl beside him in the photo, he warmed at the memory of praise she had given him. Though he hadn’t actually gotten through his assigned worksheet flawlessly, he had done well enough to have earned her approval.

He quietly chortled to himself as he remembered how the girl had been desperate to retake the photo once more, claiming that it didn’t seem fair for her to have her picture taken next to someone as “photogenic” as him—which was partially true. Well, the part about him being photogenic at least. Even his own team gave him crap for it (especially when they had to have pictures taken for some games).

But as Oikawa continued to eye the picture, he couldn’t help but stare in particular at the shorter girl beside him. He noticed the way the girl’s eyes creased with her grin, and how that very smile she presented only accentuated the rosy glow on her cheeks. Looking at it now, all he could think was how she didn’t give herself enough credit.

He wanted her to grow more confident with her photos and the idea of him taking more. Partially because he didn’t like hearing her bad-talk herself, but also because there would be plenty more to come, whether she was willing or not.

He snickered at the thought, excited over the countless number of opportunities the idea brought. Perhaps he could even become her ‘modeling’ instructor. Though the idea of him asking her to dress and pose for him had Oikawa rubbing at his forehead, knowing the resulting answer would simply be a familiar, stinging pain. 

“Hey, is that teacher-chan?”

Oikawa found himself jumping at the sudden question. He quickly moved to hide his phone, but it was easily plucked from his grasp by the taller boy behind him. He sent an annoyed glare back at the wing-spiker, only then noticing the other third-years behind him as well. He grimaced at the sight, wondering how they had entered the room without him even realizing.

Iwaizumi and Matsukawa glanced over Hanamaki’s shoulder, curiously peering down at the device in his hand. 

“Oh, so that’s what you were creepily smiling at?” Iwaizumi loosely stated. Hanamaki snickered at the comment while Matsukawa continued to stare down at the screen in quiet observation. 

Oikawa frowned irritably at his teammates and stepped forward to swipe his phone back, possessively holding it away from the trio.

“I wasn’t smiling ‘creepily’ at it,” he defensively huffed towards the ace.

“But you were smiling at it, which is kind of creepy.” 

“I think it’s kind of adorable,” Hanamaki interjected between the two captains with a teasing smirk. Oikawa frowned at the obviously condescending statement. He was preparing a retort when Matsukawa gestured towards him.

Pointing at the device, the tall middle-blocker curiously tilted his head before asking, “Are you dating (y/n)-san now?”

Oikawa flinched at this. He felt the sincerity of the question bothered him more than the actual question, even more so than the teasing that had come before it.

“No,” he snapped, a frustrated frown forming over his lips. He narrowed his eyes at the boy before adding, “Just because we have a picture together doesn’t mean we’re a couple.”

“So, does adding in the fact that the picture is your wallpaper now and that you like to stare and smile at it make you guys a couple?” Iwaizumi quipped.

“No,” Oikawa immediately barked, voice rising the way it always did when his friends harassed him, “it just makes you annoying!”

“Ah, Oikawa’s just so friendly with girls, huh?” Hanamaki casually stated while looking towards Matsukawa, ignoring the flustered captain ahead of him.

Matsukawa crossed his arms together and shook his head in mock disdain. “An overly-friendly scumbag.”

Oikawa jolted at this. “Scumbag!?” He desperately turned towards Iwaizumi, who simply stood to the side nodding his head in slow agreement. “Iwa-chan, you guys don’t really think I’m scum, do you?”

“Let’s hurry to the court before captain’s trashiness spreads,” he said, ignoring Oikawa’s pleas while pushing the other two third-years out of the dressing room.

“Iwa-chan!” he whined loudly as his teammates disappeared. He pouted at the closing door and let out an exasperated huff. “Those bastards better not act like this once (y/n) shows up,” he groaned.

He sighed to himself then, moving to put his phone in his pocket before stopping in sudden realization. Remembering the reason he had taken out his phone to begin with (besides wanting to take a look at his wallpaper for the umpteenth time that day), he then moved the phone in-hand back in front of him and began to swiftly click at it.

[to: (y/n), 8:05 AM]  
Don’t forget to come cheer me on today, (y/n)-chan~!  
My heart won’t be able take it if you stand me up again…(╥_╥)

He watched his phone confirm that the message sent before eagerly staring for a reply. Almost immediately, his phone lit up again.

[fr: (y/n), 8:06 AM]  
Oh…that was today?

His jaw practically dropped at the message, an overwhelming feeling of both shock and disappointment hitting him like a train. He had reminded her multiple times the night before—there was no way she actually forgot. He only sent the reminder text as a joke, he didn’t think he actually needed to remind her! Wasn’t she supposed to be the responsible, outstanding student—

[fr: (y/n), 8:06 AM]  
Kidding! On my way now. ( ◞･౪･)

His mouth remained gaped for only a second longer before it shut into an irritated grin. Brow twitching and free hand clenched, he chuckled agitatedly to himself.

“That little brat,” he grumbled halfheartedly, not being able to ignore the whiplash of emotion he felt from having gone from being excited, to disappointed, to excited all over again. 

He sent the girl a quick reply back saying how he would see her soon before shoving his phone into his pocket and jogging out of the dressing room. He wanted to be sure to let his teammates know that she would be dropping by before she got there so that they could get any unnecessary actions out of their systems sooner rather than later. (Particularly his three third-year friends who seemed to get off on giving him trouble. And maybe Yahaba too, just because Oikawa didn’t totally trust the boy when it came to his tutor.)

“Oi, took you long enough,” Iwaizumi grunted at the captain as he pushed his way into the noisy gymnasium. The entire court was in motion as the underclassmen rushed to set up. Oikawa glanced around to make a note of who they were still waiting for.

“Where’s Kindaichi and Yahaba?” he asked, ignoring the ace’s earlier slight.

Just as he asked, the two underclassmen appeared through the opposite entrance way.

“Hey guys!” he loudly started then, specifically pointing towards the two underclassmen who had just entered. The previously bustling room slowly came to a halt before he continued. “I just wanted to let everyone know that (y/n)-chan will be watching our practice today, so be on good behavior, okay~?” He announced this in his usual cheerful manner, hoping his suggestion translated into more of a friendly demand.

“Alright,” the majority of the team chorused in reply. But the majority happened to be non-regular members, meaning most of them would be running separate drills while the practice match took place. The very practice match full of the regular members who instead wore expressions mixed with disinterest and blatant overexcitement.

“Awesome, I’ll finally be able to meet (y/n)-san!” Kindaichi exclaimed. “I suddenly feel really fired up!”

Kunimi cringed at the tall middle-blocker before looking back over with a contemplative frown. “Well, if she isn’t loud like the girls that usually come watch then I don’t mind,” he shrugged, his expression going back to its usual apathetic state.

Oikawa raised a brow, not sure what to think about that statement, but he wasn’t given another second to consider it as his thoughts were loudly interrupted by the next response.

“All right!” Yahaba shouted, moving to high-five Kindaichi. “The power of a cute girl cheering us on seriously gets me pumped!” 

“Hey,” Oikawa barked out, pointing at the grinning underclassmen. “She’s not a ‘cute girl,’ she’s (y/n)-chan. Actually, (y/n)-san for the both of you!”

He was more-or-less expecting the usual compliant response from the middle-blocker and setter, but was surprisingly instead met with a stubborn glower by the latter. Yahaba crossed his arms and frowned at the captain while Kindaichi eyed the second-year uneasily before glancing back towards Oikawa, mirroring his own confusion.

“That doesn’t take away the fact that she’s cute,” Yahaba finally confirmed, eyeing the captain in a way that looked as if he were daring him to argue.

Oikawa huffed irritably and crossed his own arms in his own stubborn frustration. Where was this attitude of Yahaba’s even coming from? And if the disapproving frown and challenging stare being directed at him wasn’t enough to irritate Oikawa, the added chortling and ‘Oooo’ noises of provocation coming from behind him certainly got the job done.

He sent a quick warning glare to the sources of noise, Hanamaki and Matsukawa immediately redirecting their gazes to feign innocence. Oikawa snorted before turning back towards the younger setter.

“Yeah, okay Yahaba-kun,” Oikawa grunted. “That may be true, but that doesn’t mean you guys should go around saying it.”

The second-year sighed in defeat, directing his obviously annoyed gaze away from the captain. “Fine, fine. I get that, but I just didn’t think it mattered since you accepted my classmate’s gift the other day.”

Oikawa blinked in confusion. “Wait, what? What does that have to do with anything?”

Yahaba raised his brow at him as if it should have been obvious. “I thought since you were still taking your fan’s treats, that it meant you weren’t dating (y/n)-san. But now I just think it’s weird that you can still accept those gifts while you are dating her.”

“Dating?” Oikawa practically choked out. “What makes you think (y/n)-chan and I are dating?”

Now it was Yahaba’s turn to look confused. “Well, why else would you be so defensive over other guys calling her cute?”

Oikawa frowned at this. “Because she’s my friend, so it’s weird!” he barked out. 

“It’s just like we said earlier,” Hanamaki chortled, “Oikawa’s really friendly with the ladies.”

And, again, Matsukawa slowly shook his head in teasing disdain. “Our captain is actually scum.”

Iwaizumi stood arms-crossed before condescendingly stating, “Trashykawa.”

“Dammit guys!” Oikawa growled, glaring around at his team. “Just please get this all out of your system before (y/n)-chan gets here, okay?”

Oikawa found himself growing increasingly flustered over the judgmental stare being directed at him by his teammate along with the sounds of muffled laughter spewing from the third-years.

“Well, since they aren’t dating, I’m definitely going to ask (y/n)-san to cheer for me,” Yahaba whispered to Kindaichi in a not-so-discreet manner.

“Oi!” Oikawa barked at the underclassman.

“I’m joking, I’m joking!” the second-year laughed. “Besides, it’ll be enough just looking at her,” he finished with a wink. 

Oikawa felt his jaw slacken at the comment, feeling too taken aback by the overwhelming blow of irritation that hit him at the underclassman’s remark.

Seriously, did Yahaba think it was that weird for him to get pissed over people hitting on his friend? Isn’t that just the obvious response? He didn’t have to go acting like such a cheeky bastard over it.

“Oiiiii, you going to tell him he can’t look at her either?” Hanamaki called out, interrupting Oikawa’s churning thoughts of annoyance.

“Might as well rip your eyes out now, Yahaba,” Iwaizumi directed towards the younger setter.

As the mindless banter began to fill the court along with the previous bustling of set up, Oikawa slowly-but-surely began to wonder whether his decision to invite his tutor to that chaos was a wise one. And, with an obvious scowl on his face, he went on to complete his stretches, waiting for the teasing to die down on its own and not bothering to reciprocate.

It was only minutes later when the sound of the gymnasium doors opening had him immediately turning towards the source of noise, a feeling of familiarity hitting him as he remembered how he had been at his last practice while waiting for (y/n).

And, also like last practice, he was met with the faces of Seijou’s coaches instead of the much more anticipated face of his tutor.

“What’s everyone bickering about?” Coach Irihata asked, stopping in his tracks and eyeing the previously rowdy group that were suddenly quieting down. Coach Mizoguchi in-turn sent Oikawa a wondering look, probably confused over the irritated expression that masked his normally laid-back one.

“Everyone’s just so excited about (y/n)-chan coming to watch us practice, is all,” Oikawa huffed out, turning away from the staring coaches with a slight pout of contempt.

“Ah, (last/n)-san?” Coach Irihata wondered out loud, confusing Oikawa for a moment over the unfamiliarity of hearing his tutor being addressed by her family name. “How has the tutoring been?”

The setter paused at the unexpected question before he crossed his arms together in contemplation. “This week is what really started to make a difference for my studying,” he finally admitted. “I don’t think we met enough before that.” Not to mention the fact that he never actually gave her the time of day before this week, seeing how he pretty much hated her, but that was something he’d keep to himself.

“That’s good to hear,” the coach grunted while nodding to himself. “So you both get along then?”

“If that isn’t the understatement of the year…” Oikawa heard someone mutter from behind him (probably Hanamaki judging by the deepness of the voice).

He sent a look back towards the source and was met with a teasing grin. Huffing to himself in annoyance, he looked back towards the head coach.

“Yes, we’re friends now actually.” 

“That reminds me,” Coach Mizoguchi suddenly piped from where he had moved to sit at the side of the court. He flipped through the pages on his clipboard before continuing, “We want you to start coming to practice more since the Interhigh Prelims are soon. This next week we expect you at the Friday practice, and the week after all practice days are mandatory.”

Oikawa felt his stomach drop a bit at this. It was a confusing sensation because a part of him was, of course, excited to get extra practice time in, but there was also this nagging sensation that poked at the fact that he and (y/n) had just started on their extended tutoring days. Sure, there would be more time after Interhigh and before the final exams, but a lot could happen in-between, and he really didn’t want to get used to the idea of not seeing his tutor as often as he had been. 

But it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it. This was not only his obligation, but what he loved to do. It just naturally had to come first. In the end, all he could do was make the best out of the remaining days he was able to meet with her.

“Alright, I understand,” he nodded towards his coach. “I’ll let her know.”

“Good,” Coach Mizoguchi acknowledged with his own curt nod. “Right then, everyone finish their warm ups; it’s almost time for practice to begin.”

After the dismissal, Coach Irihata pulled a chair besides the younger coach and they both began to quietly discuss something too out of range for Oikawa to make sense of. The rest of the members began to break up into the team arrangements for the practice match—Yahaba, Matsukawa, Hanamaki, and Watari moving to the opposite end of the net while Oikawa, Iwaizumi, Kindaichi, and Kunimi took their positions on their own side.

As they all arranged into their spots, the shrilling sound of the gymnasium doors opening yet again sounded throughout the room. Practically every head in the room turned towards the noise, Oikawa’s face instantaneously lighting up as he saw the familiar face of his tutor.

But immediately after the excitement came the brief bewilderment upon seeing the girl’s attire. It was his first time seeing her in something not school-related, and it was definitely nothing short of a pleasant surprise. It definitely suited her more than the gym uniform she had been wearing the day before.

It was then after that he took notice of the blatant nerves that covered the girl’s expression, probably intimidated by the attention currently drawn onto her by the rest of the team. Oikawa opened his mouth to greet her in hopes of breaking the prolonged silence and taking away her nerves, but was stopped by a shout from the opposite side of the net.

“(Y/n)-san!” Yahaba immediately welcomed the girl with a tiny wave, sending her a grin.

She seemed to perk at the address and sent her own wave back, smiling tentatively at the second-year. Oikawa frowned at the interaction and the fact that he was beaten to the punch, but continued with his own greeting.

“(Y/n)-chan!” he shouted. “You made it just in time! We set up a chair for you over there,” he pointed towards the area where the coaches sat.

She directed a curt nod towards him in response and staggered over to where the coaches waited. Oikawa snorted to himself over the girl’s stiff movement. He realized she wasn’t accustomed to so much attention, but what was the point in being so nervous anyway?

He watched as the coaches nodded their own welcome to the short girl, immediately after prompting the rest of the noisy team to quit with their greetings already.

“I haven’t even properly introduced myself yet,” Kindaichi quietly whined.

“Don’t worry,” Oikawa reassured. “We’ll have plenty of time after the match. So let’s go ahead and get started.”

Matsukawa and Oikawa met at the side of the court, Coach Irihata tossing them a coin from his pocket.

“Which will it be Mattsun~?” Oikawa asked, raising his brow provokingly.

Matsukawa smirked in response. “Heads.”

With that, Oikawa flicked the coin up and the two watched as it twisted in the air seconds before falling back down into the palm of Oikawa’s hand. He glanced down at the object and immediately broke out into a cocky grin.

“Better luck next time Mattsun,” he teased, holding the coin out for him to see while shooting the third-year a victory sign. The curly-haired player’s groan of disappointment echoed throughout the rest of his scrimmage team. 

“I didn’t feel like losing my arms this early in the day,” Watari joked with the pouting Yahaba.

“Go easy, captain!” Hanamaki called to Oikawa as he and Matsukawa made their way back onto the court.

Oikawa showed a sly grin in response. “You know that’s impossible.”

He then looked towards the oogling girl at the side, watching as she sat tensely besides his coaches, staring at him with nervous anticipation wavering in her gaze.

“(Y/n)-chan, pay attention, okay?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, the look screaming ‘Don’t be so full of yourself,’ but she simply sent him a nod in response, probably not wanting to shout at him from across the court. He grinned at the thought and finished their interaction with a wink.

He turned then as a ball was tossed over to him from the side of the court, catching it easily in his hand before moving back to where he could properly serve. He spared the girl sitting at the side of the court one more look before directing his gaze down towards the ball clasped in his hands.

He started to inhale deeply, closing his eyes before slowly releasing the kempt-up air.

It was finally time for him to show her just what his hard work was really made of. Not the work of a genius or someone naturally gifted, but the work of a person born of complete normalcy and forced to recognize the burden of self-discipline.

He really wanted to give it his all and show off. There was no telling when he would get another chance like this, especially knowing the luck the two of them could sometimes have. But at the same time, Oikawa realized that if he thought about it too, much he’d end up getting carried away in trying too hard to impress his tutor.

He wouldn’t let it get to that, though.

The next time his eyes opened, they held an unsettling focus that removed the distractions of everything and anything off of the court. He twisted the ball in his hand, the smooth object nothing short of familiar in his grasp.

The stillness of the gymnasium soon disappeared as the ringing of the coach’s whistle bounced throughout the room. In that moment of broken silence, Oikawa felt his body immediately kick into motion with the habitual force that had been wired in him from years of training.

He noticed how the eyes of his teammates ahead of him seemed to drill holes through him, and he knew the same probably applied to those on the sidelines.

As he tossed the ball into the air, he even vaguely noticed Iwaizumi directing the tall first-year to watch the back of his head—him hastily doing so in response.

Then, just as quickly as the ball was thrown to roam the air, Oikawa went running forward. Throwing his arms back and leaning in for a high leap, he was soon in the air himself. His arm moved back, building momentum one second and soon slapping an incredible force onto the object in one fast, fluid motion in the next.

The second silence to befall the gym was very quickly interrupted by that harsh slap of the ball making contact with Oikawa’s hand—an erupting noise that vibrated through to his ears as the said object crashed onto the floor on the opposite end of the court.

The sharp ring of the whistle then came once again, ensuing the scoring of a point.

Oikawa felt the side of his mouth tug into a satisfied, crooked grin. He fell back onto his feet and clenched his fists together in his quiet victory. Immediately after came the not-so-quiet complaints from his opposing teammates.

“So it’s going to be one of those games,” Matsukawa loudly muttered to the wing-spiker beside him. Hanamaki let out a disgruntled sigh in response.

“Instead of complaining, concentrate on getting the ball in the air. No ball is impossible to receive,” Coach Mizomatguchi scolded from the sideline.

As Oikawa received praises of encouragement from the first-years on his side, Iwaizumi tossed him another ball. “Looks like you caught somebody’s eye,” the ace quietly muttered.

Oikawa immediately perked at this and found himself turning towards where his tutor was sat, and what he saw made him feel nothing short of arrogant.

Her gaze seemed glued onto Oikawa, shining brilliantly with what only could be described as pure awe. Oikawa flashed a cheeky grin at the girl, his own stare gleaming with conceited delight.

She sent him a hasty thumbs up as he repositioned himself for his next serve and he ate up her rigid excitement like a man absolutely starved for attention 

“Keep your eyes on me,” he mouthed to the girl. Judging by the way her face colored and soon contorted into a frustrated frown, he was sure she understood his message.

  


And with that, the sound of the whistle filled the room yet again. The ball left Oikawa’s hand in a matter of seconds within the piercing noise, and he found himself quickly pinpointing onto the floating object just ahead of him.

His body immediately fell into the familiar pattern of the game as he ran ahead. He prepared to spring up by swinging his arms back and leaning forward, soon after hurling up after the object.

His contact with the ball became apparent as the resonating sound of his hand striking it back down echoed throughout the room. 

In the seconds it took for him to land back down, he glanced over at the girl to see her doing just as he had requested. Their gaze’s immediately met, and he felt her eyes alone could convey her obvious message of awe.

She was honestly an open book for him, with her amazement practically radiating over her as she stared him down. It was impossible to miss what she was thinking, how she was feeling—and it was something Oikawa really couldn’t get enough of.

The mere thought of her watching with such raw wonder sent chills crawling down his spine. And the very fact that her amazement was directed towards him, and only him, didn’t help the growing arrogance that began to flutter in his core.

But as big as a deal as it was, and as much as it affected him, it wasn’t enough. Suddenly, all he could really think about doing was milking the most of this situation provided to him. It wasn’t about the practice anymore—it was just him wanting to see more of this girl’s wholesome look of enchantment. 

But that was all soon nothing more than a yearning desire, for there was no second blow of a whistle that ensued the scoring of a point. Instead, there was the painful sound of impact and the encouraging calls coming from the opposing side of the net.

“Nice one Watari!” Matsukawa bellowed, soon after rushing towards the net as he followed the ball that had immediately started to make its way back to the other side—the force being too much even after having been successfully received.

But they didn’t give it a chance to return to the awaiting ace and first-years, for Hanamaki was just as quickly blowing past the third-year middle blocker in his pursuit of the ball.

In the seconds of his chase, he was soon slamming down the ball past Kindaichi and Iwaizumi’s swiftly formed block.

Oikawa found himself blinking, realizing just how fast instances of the game passed, especially when one was preoccupied with differing thoughts.

He made a loud ‘tsk’ of annoyance, partially towards his teammates who had managed to bring over his kill serve, but mostly because he was being an idiot and doing what he said he wouldn’t do—distracting himself with the thoughts of impressing the girl sitting at the side of the court.

“Geez, Watari-kun,” he frustratingly groaned to the shorter libero. “You’re too good! I’m both proud and irritated at you right now.”

The second-year jolted a bit at the sudden address and sheepishly rubbed at the back of his head with a chuckle. “Thanks?”

As the teams moved to get back into their positions, Iwaizumi passed by Oikawa, grabbing his shoulder in order to get his attention. “Oi, quit getting distracted,” he huffed. 

“Right, sorry.” Oikawa apologized, clapping his hands together and bowing slightly while doing so.

Though it was Iwaizumi who had pointed out how the girl had been staring at him to begin with, so he was partially to blame. But he wouldn’t bother bringing that up…at the moment. Oikawa instead let out a sigh and turned to his teammates.

“Don’t worry guys, we’ll get the next one!”

He was met with a chorus of agreement as he moved into place, leaning forward in preparation for the incoming serve that would be sent from the opposing side.

Letting out a puff of breath, he sent a passing glance towards the girl who was now staring at the opposite side, probably waiting for the serve to be sent just as he was.

He lightly patted at his cheeks and gave his head a quick shake. Alright, for real this time. No distractions.

Just as soon as the thought ran through this head, the ringing of the whistle set the court in motion.

. . .

The remainder of the game from there on became a steady back-and-forth between the two sides of the Seijou team. The balance between the underclassmen and the third-years seemed to weigh out pretty evenly in the end, especially with Matsukawa and Hanamaki taking confident charge over the second-year setter and libero. Oikawa and Iwaizumi on the other hand were busier handing out bits of advice here and there for the two first-years. And, though the practice matches served for the purpose of improvement anyway, it still proved to hinder them throughout the match. 

With the wavering score keeping the teams at bay, two sets had passed with each team having taken a victory each. They were on their final set now, but with the match point leaning towards Matsukawa and Hanamaki’s side.

“Looks like you had nothing to worry about after all,” Matsukawa jokingly directed towards Yahaba, who sounded out of breath.

“Maybe teacher-chan really is a good luck charm,” Hanamaki chortled while grinning towards the sitting girl. She jolted in response, nervously smiling back at the tall wing-spiker.

“Oi, you guys haven’t won yet,” Iwaizumi irritably huffed from the side.

Oikawa nodded at this, frowning at the team ahead. “Yeah, so wipe those cocky grins off your faces.” 

Hanamaki and Matsukawa exchanged knowing glances with one another, both soon smirking at whatever unspoken message had crossed between the two.

“Alright captain,” the light-haired wing-spiker started, “let’s go then.”

“Hit it until it breaks, right captain-kun?” Matsukawa teasingly spoke, a lopsided grin tracing over his mouth.

Oikawa flushed at the familiar quote and frowned at the middle-blocker. “Bring it.”

As the whistle rang, Hanamaki sent the ball hurdling over the net between Kunimi and Iwaizumi. The ace received it with ease and the ball then went flying over Oikawa who stood ready to jump for it. As he leapt for the ball, he met the object with a forceful push, tossing it towards the taller first-year who was racing towards the net.

Kindaichi reached the front, hurdling himself up and just as quickly slamming down the ball that had been tossed to him.

Oikawa watched with eager anticipation, hoping to see the ball meet the ground of the court and getting ready to react if it didn’t. He watched as Watari easily received the hit, sending the ball to Yahaba.

“Kindaichi-kun, get ready,” Oikawa hurriedly ordered as he himself squatted down, preparing to spring up for a block. Kindaichi rushed beside him and they both jumped moments after the ball was projected from the second-year setter.

Stretching his arms up high over him, Oikawa created a barrier in attempt to block out the ball that was seconds from being slammed down towards them.

As he watched the ball Yahaba had sent hurdle towards Hanamaki, he noticed it wasn’t the sort of toss that Hanamaki really excelled at hitting. He didn’t rest his hopes of blocking it out in this fact though, for it was still enough for the wing-spiker to direct his hit towards the Kindaichi’s weaker stance.

The ball bounced from the first-year’s spread hand and ricocheted onto the ground beneath him. All they could do was watch as the ball plummeted towards the hard surface.

The silent spell created by the impact was soon broken by the sound of the final whistle blaring throughout the gymnasium.

“And that’s game~” Hanamaki cheered, moving to high-five Matsukawa. He then turned to the rest of his team. “Good job guys!”

Oikawa and Iwaizumi released irritable sighs at the same moment, exchanging glances with one another and easily seeing the disappointment of loss reflected in each other’s gazes.

“Aghhh! I feel like this loss was completely our fault!” Kindaichi begrudgingly groaned, hands frustratingly rustling in his hair.

“Speak for yourself,” Kunimi replied defensively.

“Hey now, you both did great,” Oikawa interjected, turning towards the riled-up first-years. “Just keep in mind what Iwa-chan and I told you during the match and you’ll improve for sure.” 

The underclassmen both exchanged looks with one another and then turned back towards the captain, replying in unison, “Right!”

The sudden sound of Coach Irihata’s chair squeaking against the floor as he got up had all heads turn towards him.

“Good match,” he curtly complimented. “Now take a minute to reflect on what you could have done better and prepare for the next.”

The surrounding team all chorused their reply of “Yes sir!” before breaking up into their respective groups.

“Oi, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa quietly gestured for his friend to come towards him. The ace did so with a questioning look on his face.

“Start them off for me will you? I’m going to talk to (y/n)-chan real quick.”

“Alright,” Iwaizumi nonchalantly answered, soon turning back towards the first-year’s who approached them. “But don’t take too long.”

“I won’t~” Oikawa reassured with an added victory sign. With that, he made his way towards where his tutor sat, noticing how she watched him approach.

The coaches had moved beside the scoreboard chatting amongst themselves, so Oikawa took the opportunity to steal the seat beside the girl that had been previously occupied by the younger coach.

“(Y/n)-chan, you aren’t bored are you?” he asked, plopping onto the seat next to her.

She looked perplexed by the question, as if the thought had never even crossed her mind. “What? Not at all!” she answered with a defensive wave of her hands.

Oikawa smiled at the gesture, more-or-less expecting the response. Judging by her look of awe from earlier, he actually doubted the possibility of her being disinterested to actually be possible. He just wanted to hear her say it herself. 

“I think I understand what all the hype for you guys is about now,” she finished with a thoughtful look. 

“Don’t tell me you’ve become one of my fangirls~” Oikawa teased. “I’ll be sure to make you an honorary member, though.” 

She snorted at this and rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t take it that far, but you’ve definitely impressed me with your skills.”

She rubbed at her arms suddenly, looking a bit distraught. “Honestly though, I don’t see how you guys still have arms after seeing the way you all hit the ball.”

Oikawa chortled at this.

“It’s all in the training,” he cockily retorted, flexing his arms at her. She narrowed her eyes at him in response, but Oikawa didn’t miss the amused twitch of a smile that flashed over her lips.

“Anyway,” he continued, “we’ll probably have to do a couple more matches, but afterwards do you wanna go eat somewhere?” He found himself amused over how she flushed with obvious joy at the question.

“Sure!” she nodded enthusiastically.

Oikawa grinned with his own sudden enthusiasm coming over him and reached over to ruffle at her head. “Looking forward to it then.”

“Um,” she started nervously, to his surprise making no motion to swat his hand away. “Will the rest of the team be coming too?”

Oikawa tilted his head at this. “Probably. I mean, we usually hangout after practice on the weekends anyway. Plus they want to hang out with you also…” Oikawa’s eyes widened in his sudden realization at the girl’s question.

He felt his face flush as he moved his hand away from her, bashfully rubbing a finger under his nose in his fluster and turning his gaze away from the girl. “I mean, did you want it to be just us? ‘Cause I’m cool with that too—”

“That’s not it,” she immediately deadpanned. Oikawa froze in his previously flustered notion and turned back towards her with an irritable look.

“Right,” he gritted. “Silly me~”

She laughed at this and lightly poked at his forehead. “I didn’t mean it like that,” she assured. “It’s just that it’s a bit overwhelming to be surrounded by so many people I don’t know very well.”

Oikawa raised a questioning brow. “You seemed fine at the restaurant the other day.”

“That was different,” she sighed. “It was a coincidental run in, but now it’s like we’re all planning an outing together. All of you are really familiar with one another while I’ll feel like the odd-man out. I don’t want to be annoyingly clinging to you the whole time, but you’re who I’m most comfortable with.”

Oikawa felt a growing warmth in his stomach at the statement and he found his face heating once more.

“Oh, c’mon (y/n)-chan,” he lightly snorted, shaking his head in amusement.

“What?” she defensively huffed.

“You’re overthinking it.”

She pouted at this, glancing away with an embarrassed grimace. “Am I really?”

“Most definitely,” he nodded, answering matter-of-factly. “You don’t need to act so nervous around the team. They all like you.” She looked unsure about his statement, so he reached out to pinch at her cheek. “They seriously do, you think I would say so if they didn’t? In fact, it’s annoying how much they like you.”

The memory of the earlier chaos that had resulted from his announcement of her appearance had him lightly scowling in displeasure. “Maybe it’s better if you don’t come after all…” 

She quietly giggled at this. “Oi, make up your mind,” she scolded while pushing the hand he held pinching at her cheek away from her face.

He stuck his tongue out at her teasingly. “It’s not my fault I want to keep you all to myself,” is what he wanted to say, but he caught himself just before, thinking better of the situation. “But feel free to cling to me as much as you want,” he finished instead, flashing the girl a cheeky grin. Like that was any better.

She grimaced at the suggestion and looked away with a pout. “Saying it like that is embarrassing…”

Not as embarrassing as what I actually wanted to say, he thought to himself with a quaint look. But before he could even think to respond, the girl glanced nervously back at him.

“So I wasn’t that unnatural earlier right? I’m really just not used to being around big groups.”

“Ah, don’t worry,” he reassured her with another ruffle to her hair. She quickly swatted his hand away, but he only smiled in response. “You’ll get used to being around us soon enough,” he assured.

He noticed how her face colored at statement and felt himself warm too at the fact.

“I didn’t mean anything weird by that,” he rushed to put in. “Don’t take it the wrong way!”

She flushed even more at this. “I wasn’t taking it the wrong way!”

He pinched at her cheek, a disgruntled sound of annoyance resulting from the victim. “Yeah right, that face you just made said otherwise.”

She pushed at his arm but he merely laughed at the attempt and lightly pinched at her other cheek as well.

“Oiiii!”

They both turned to the forgotten audience behind them, Iwaizumi sending the setter a testing look. Though Oikawa sure as hell didn’t miss the gleam of amusement in his otherwise strict gaze.

“Don’t tell me you guys are giving in already,” Hanamaki called from behind the net.

“Don’t let him bully you, (y/n)-san!” Yahaba chimed in.

“Alright, alright, calm down,” Oikawa assured, removing his grasp from the girl’s cheek and giving them a quick pat as he pulled away. “I’m coming!”

As Oikawa jogged back to where the underclassmen and team ace stood, the setter frowned at the obsolete sneer that graced Iwaizumi’s face. It really stood out in contrast to the attempted stern look he tried to hold in his gaze. 

Kindaichi on the other hand was grinning profusely at his captain. “You and (y/n)-san really do get along, huh?” 

Oikawa glanced away with a sheepish look. “Yeah…but not particularly or anything. What’s with that smile?”

“It is particular though?” Kunimi thoughtlessly spoke, the ace chortling at the bluntness of his response. Oikawa pouted, crossing his arms in dismay.

“Alright, alright—enough of that,” he hastily waved away. “Iwa-chan went over what you guys should look out for, right?”

The underclassmen nodded in response.

“Good. So, Kindaichi, remember to keep your block strong and don’t spread your arms too wide. And Kunimi, give it your all when you’re going in for a jump, even if it’s just to be a decoy.”

The two responded with a curt, “Right!” while Iwaizumi nodded in agreement to the suggestions.

“Let’s get positioned for the next match,” Coach Irihata suddenly called from the side of the court, he and Coach Mizoguchi making their way back to their respective seats.

Oikawa turned to his team, nodding. “Alright guys, we definitely have it this time. Let’s do this, okay?”

They circled around and put their hands together, chorusing a brief shout of encouragement before they split up to their positions. The opposing side did the same, Hanamaki soon after pointing towards Oikawa as he moved to his position on court.

“What happened to you bringing it captain?” he teasingly provoked.

Oikawa let out a small chuckle, his brow irritably twitching at the instigation. “Riiiiight,” he muttered. “You know, Makki-kun, your heads starting to get really big. Don’t get mad if I accidentally hit it, okay?”

The taller third-year chortled in response, jokingly creating a barrier over his head with his arms.

“But just you watch,” Oikawa continued, holding the ball in-hand out towards them. “We’re definitely winning this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the little edit I threw in isn't too cringey LOL
> 
> I was messing around in Picrew and created how I imagine reader-chan looking like! I edited it together with a pic of Oikawa to create this 'cause whyyyy nooot. I didn't put the whole thing in the chapter though because I don't wanna ruin the image of what you guys may have! O: If you are interested tho, [this](https://66.media.tumblr.com/402e7cd812a4d173247510320252b46a/92d8689683746115-0f/s500x750/b40b2dd8e1337b5212587822c760f69d3623f4d0.jpg) is what the finished image looks like!
> 
> If you wanna mess around and make who you imagine, [this](https://picrew.me/image_maker/17250) is the template I used!
> 
> Thanks for reading!!! ^o^


	8. Chapter 8

The match started with the familiar back-and-forth that had been drawn out in the previous game, but Oikawa noted the obvious improvement on their own side—Kindaichi and Kunimi obviously having listened to him and Iwaizumi’s advice from before. Along with the newly steadied flow among them, everyone had seemed to thoroughly lose themselves in the game. That in itself made all the difference.

The score continued to fluctuate between the serves, receives, blocks, and quicks being issued by both teams, but, as Oikawa grew more and more acquainted with tossing the best-suited toss towards the underclassmen, they found the point difference between the teams steadily growing in their favor. And, soon enough, Oikawa and his team managed to take the next set by a much wider point-margin (though they had still ended up losing the first set after a long rally).

On the final set, the points between the two teams came back to being more evenly matched and the tension in the room grew just as steadily.

Oikawa noticed how Yahaba yet again sent a toss that was just a bit lower than what Hanamaki preferred, and the consequences of that showed as Iwaizumi easily received the hit.

With that, Oikawa was able to toss a high hit towards Kindaichi. The first-year hit it with ease, blasting past Matsukawa and the team’s libero.

As the ringing of the final whistle blared around them, the excitement in their first victory of the day was just as obvious as the frustration from the opposing team’s first loss.

Yet, despite that frustration, it was obvious to everyone that they were all getting just as much enjoyment from the matches than anything.

For the remainder of practice, they managed to pull out three more matches. Two of which became full sets—one where Oikawa’s team managed to pull through with another win, but still losing the other one by a tight margin.

Both teams had become tied in wins until the final match where Hanamaki and Mastukawa’s team managed to win with a straight set, despite everyone’s struggles. By this point, the difference in stamina between the second and first-years was more than apparent.

“One more time!” Kindaichi groaned from the ground that he was slumped on.

“You seriously say that in that position? Are you insane?” Yahaba laughed, throwing a towel onto the exhausted first-year. The taller boy moved the towel from his face and let out a defeated drawl.

“C’mon guys,” Oikawa chuckled, finding amusement in the underclassman’s spectacle.

The boy pushed himself from the ground and, from there, the team moved to meet at the side of the court where the coaches were waiting.

Everyone stood either eagerly downing at a water bottle or wiping their face with towels, catching their breath as the coaches began to speak.

“Good work everyone,” Coach Irihata started with a smile. “With the prelims coming soon, be sure to eat right and sleep well. We’re going to be putting in extra hours, so it’s important. But don’t slack off in your studies either.”

The team chorused their acknowledgement, and Coach Mizoguchi soon stepped in. “If you understand, then go stretch and clean up. You’re dismissed for today. Don’t forget we have practice at the same time tomorrow.”

After being dismissed, the gymnasium began to bustle with noise yet again, with the team stretching and the non-regular members returning from their own practice drills to help clean up.

Oikawa sat on the ground, straining forward as he stretched his lower back and legs. He glanced around the room in search for a particular face and nearly did a double-take when he spotted her being approached by the second-year setter.

“Help me stretch (y/n)-san?” the younger boy eagerly requested, pointing at himself as if to emphasize the point.

“Are you sure that’s okay?” the girl asked, eyeing the underclassmen nervously.

“Sure, sure,” he reassured. “You just have to push down on my back while I’m sitting. It helps a lot—“

“Oi!” Oikawa called from where he sat, soon pulling himself up and approaching the duo. “Don’t listen to him, (y/n)-chan, he can stretch on his own.”

Yahaba pouted at this. “But it’s easier with help.”

A scornful grin spread over Oikawa’s already irritated expression. “Want me to help you then?” he intimidatingly questioned.

“Ehhh,” the boy held his hand up dismissively, “on second thought, I’ll ask Watari to help.”

Just as Oikawa was going to let a satisfied huff of victory, he was approached by three annoyingly familiar faces. Or, it would be more accurate to say (y/n) was approached by them, and he just stood in the way.

“(Y/n)-san, how are you doing?” Matsukawa asked the girl.

“Were you impressed with us?” Hanamaki added.

“Oikawa isn’t bothering you still, is he?” Iwaizumi questioned, accusingly sending a narrowed looks towards the captain.

Oikawa irritably pouted at the group. “Guys seriously, let her be. You’re too much—”

“No, it’s fine,” the girl behind him interrupted. He turned back in surprise, meeting the slightly flustered look of his tutor. She was obviously feeling a bit overwhelmed, so Oikawa didn’t understand why she wasn’t letting him handle the situation.

“You guys were really amazing,” the girl continued, glancing between the third-years, as if unsure as to who to look at. “Um, thank you again for letting me attend your practice.”

Hanamaki let out a snort of laughter at this, much to the girl’s surprise and embarrassment.

“You don’t have to be so formal,” he chuckled, soon being joined in by Matsukawa beside him.

“We’re glad you came. Especially the simple-minded one over there,” Iwaizumi added, pointing blatantly towards Oikawa.

The captain visibly flinched at this, taken aback by the sudden accusation. “Iwa-chan!” he whined.

“Hey, hey,” Hanamaki prodded the girl’s shoulder for her attention, soon cupping a hand over his mouth as he leaned towards the girl in a not-so-discreet manner. “This guy really is simple-minded, he gets happy over the smallest things. Did you know he has this really embarrassing wallpaper on his phone of—”

The wing-spiker’s sentence was interrupted by his own muffled words as Oikawa sprung forward and shoved his towel in the third-year’s face.

“Okaaaaay,” he growled, glaring daggers towards his surrounding teammates. “You guys haven’t finished your stretching, right? Why don’t you get to that?”

“We’re just teasing you captain,” Matsukawa chuckled as Hanamaki shoved Oikawa’s hand away, laughing at the spectacle himself. “But okay, let’s finish up and leave these two be. We’re all going out afterwards anyway, right?”

“Eh, who invited you lot?” Oikawa deadpanned.

“Let’s meet up outside soon, okay (y/n)-san?” Hanamaki finished, ignoring Oikawa’s previous question. The brunette let out a ‘tsk’ of annoyance in response as his tutor nodded in agreement to the wing-spiker, smiling and tentatively waving after them as they finally turned away to continue stretching on their own.

“You guys really are close, huh?” she laughed. “You sure love to tease one another.”

“I guess that’s one way to put it,” Oikawa huffed embarrassingly. “But ‘bullying’ may be a more accurate description.” 

“No way,” the girl exclaimed with a disbelieving shake of her head. “You’re lucky to have people you’re so close with. It must be nice.”

Oikawa eyed the girl more seriously this time, analyzing her downcast look. “So you don’t have anyone like that?” he asked.

“I did when I was younger,” she started slowly, awkwardly twisting at her hair as if to give her hands something to do. “But that was before. It’s been hard for me to get close to people in high school, as you already know.”

There was a pause of silence between the two.

“Oi,” his voice suddenly came out rather rough, so much so that the girl looked up in surprise, meeting his hooded gaze and suddenly freezing at the intensity of his stare.

Oikawa stepped forward, leaning down to get closer towards the girl as he reached to pinch at her cheek. “Don’t say stuff like that. You have me, don’t you?”

He realized at the moment that he was within a dangerously uncomfortable proximity of the girl, yet he couldn’t help it. Or rather, he would rather choose to ignore it. He also realized he was speaking to her in a way that neither she nor himself was very familiar with. And yet again, he let the harsher tone thoughtlessly escape his mouth.

He even realized he was acting a bit unfair, but that didn’t matter to him either. Because what she didn’t apparently didn’t realize was that it really did hurt him to hear her say things like that. And he desperately wanted her to understand.

“Oikawa-kun…” the girl quietly spoke, face quickly heating up to a vibrant color.

“What?” he started, his voice coming out low as he continued to watch her, “Do you understand?”

“N-no, well I mean yes, but—” She closed her eyes in embarrassment, finally breaking contact with his stare before harshly whispering out, “But everyone’s staring at us, you know!?”

Oikawa paused at this and then just as soon sent a sidelong glance towards the staring crowd before them. Frozen mid-stretch or even mid-conversation, the watching gazes of his teammates and even coaches completely surrounded them.

An unsettling silence fell over the gym as Oikawa slowly removed his grasp of the girl’s cheek, sliding back and obviously stepping away. He moved in such a way you would imagine an animal trying to sneak away from its predator, and, currently, he truly felt that was the case.

“Right, well, I’m going to get changed then,” he hurriedly spoke while moving to make his escape. 

Just as he was slipping through the door, the sound of footsteps immediately followed.

“Oi, oi, that was sexual harassment right?” Oikawa heard Hanamaki badgering closely behind him.

“I feel like I should be reporting him to the authorities,” Iwaizumi began muttering.

Oikawa let out an annoyed huff and made a sudden turn towards the trio, causing them to halt in their shadowing.

“You guys,” he quietly droned, eyes narrowed and mouth curving into an obvious pout. “Please don’t talk about what just happened anymore.”

They looked surprised to be met with the captain’s blatant red-faced embarrassment, exchanging glances with one another soon after. But as soon as Oikawa saw the twitch of a grin move on the third-year’s faces, he knew it was a mistake to show them just how vulnerable the situation had made him.

“Oh, don’t look like that Oikawa” Matsukawa assured the brunette, voice dripping with sarcasm as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I mean, you have us, don’t you?”

Oikawa cringed at the painstakingly familiar words.

“Yeah, yeah!” Hanamaki chimed, going to Oikawa’s free side and throwing an arm over him as well. “Do you understand?” he asked, mimicking Oikawa’s surly tone from earlier.

Oikawa clearly felt the rush of heat travelling to his face as the phrase bounced through him.

Why had he said that to her, it was so lame! What had he been thinking? God, and in front of his whole team no less.

He let out a frustrated groan and pushed away from the pestering third-years, rustling his hair with both of his hands in his fluster.

“Damn it, guuuuys!” he whined. “This is so embarrassing!”

“I never get to see him get this flustered. Today must be a great day,” Iwaizumi casually commented towards the other two laughing players.

“Seriously though, it’s not that big of a deal,” Hanamaki chuckled, wiping at one of his eyes in the process. “It’s actually pretty cute seeing you get all riled up over a girl like this.”

“Yeah,” Matsukawa added with a nod, crossing his arms as his snickering slowly died under his breath. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this interested in someone before.”

Oikawa felt the blow of the words, like he had just been indirectly sucker-punched by his friends “comforting” words. They really didn’t feel that way though. 

“It’s not even like that,” he muttered, turning away from the three in order to avoid their analyzing stares that were sure to follow.

“Is he serious?” Oikawa heard one of them mumble as he made his way to the dressing room.

The sound of the gymnasium door opening and the sudden clatter of the remainder of the team exiting to get dressed soon sounded, leading to Oikawa’s breath of relief. He was thankful for the interjection, for he really didn’t want them to say anything more on the subject. 

. . .

In the dressing room, Oikawa grabbed a clean shirt from his bag and pulled it on after having removed his practice shirt. He then moved to slide his uniform jacket on, tuning out the noise of the bustling room full of members getting dressed or gathering their belongings, and still getting over his embarrassment from earlier events.

“Are we going somewhere to eat?” Matsukawa suddenly called over his shoulder, slipping his own jacket on.

“I’m down,” Iwaizumi grunted as he pulled his used shirt over his head. “Who else is coming?”

“I can go for some food,” Hanamaki grunted, distracted on his phone as he sat waiting for the others to finish.

“I actually already have plans,” Yahaba spoke from the side of the room, where he was digging through his bag. He suddenly paused in his movement and looked up. “Is (y/n)-san going?”

Oikawa sent him a sidelong glance before answering. “Yeah, she’s coming.”

He let out an obvious drawl of disappointment at that. “Ahh, that sucks! I wish I could go.”

“Yahaba, you need a girlfriend. You’re too lonely,” Hanamaki chuckled at the pouting second-year.

“Don’t encourage him,” Oikawa huffed. He then turned to the two first-years and libero gathered by the shelves. “What about you guys, are you coming?”

“I can’t,” Kunimi immediately answered, his usual look of indifference plastered over his face.

Oikawa turned to Kindaichi and Watari.

“Sorry, I’m actually busy today too!” the libero apologized with a sheepish grin.

All eyes then fell onto the tall first-year, who took on a suddenly uneasy look.

“Well, I’m free,” Kindaichi started nervously. “But, wouldn’t it be weird if I was the only underclassmen there?”

“What? Why would it be?” Hanamaki guffawed, moving toward the middle-blocker in order to reassuringly slap his shoulder. The boy seemed surprised by the sudden and harsh impact. “Come out with your senpai, it’ll be fun!”

The rest of the third-years nodded their agreements while the first-year rubbed at his shoulder, smiling self-consciously back at the trio. Meanwhile, Oikawa turned to the remainder of the group and frowned unhappily at them. 

“And you guys are all ditching us. Since when did any of us have social lives outside of volleyball?”

The piercing looks he got in response had him suddenly feeling like he had said something very wrong.

“We seriously don’t want to hear that from you of all people,” Iwaizumi grunted at Oikawa.

The rest of the team chorused their agreement, sending the captain overly-critical stares. He tensed at the accusation and waved his hand defensively in front of him.

“I was kidding, kidding!” he insisted. “Sheesh, if looks could kill…” 

Though he was disappointed the whole team couldn’t go out as usual, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t even slightly comforted by the fact that Yahaba wouldn’t be joining. But only because (y/n) would be there too.

He picked his bag up from the chair and threw it over his shoulder. “Anyway,” he started, “we should get going. (Y/n)’s probably waiting on us.”

As everyone gathered their belongings and followed behind one another out the door, Iwaizumi locked the room behind them.

At the bottom of the staircase, the familiar figure of his tutor sat waiting with her head rested on the palm of her hands and her elbows propped onto her knees.

“(Y/n)-chan!” he enthusiastically called out.

She turned at her name and seemed to jolt a bit at the sudden sight of the entire team approaching her. She quickly got up from her spot and hastily moved so that the staircase was free for them to walk on.

“Sorry that I can’t make it today,” Yahaba, for whatever reason, apologized to the girl. It wasn’t like he was ever obligated to go to begin with.

“That’s too bad,” the girl responded with genuine disappointment etched onto her face. This only irked Oikawa further and obviously brightened the second-year setter who grinned in response.

“Next time for sure!” he assured. He turned to the rest of the team then. “You guys have fun; I’m going to head out now.”

Kunimi and Watari nodded towards the team themselves, acknowledging their own departure.

“Yeah, sorry again,” the libero hastily added, sending a curt wave towards the group.

“See ya’,” Kunimi shot out as the three began to leave together.

The rest of the group waved the three away, saying their goodbyes as the underclassmen disappeared around the corner of the gymnasium building.

After their departure, Oikawa stuck his hands into his jacket pocket and began to sway on his heels haphazardly, lips puckering in thought.

“Allllll right guys,” he droned thoughtfully, pulling a hand free from his pocket and placing it over his stomach. “I’m starving.”

“Same here,” Hanamaki chipped.

“Me too,” both Matsukawa and Iwaizumi nodded.

“Where do you guys want to eat?” Kindaichi asked, still looking slightly uncomfortable over the fact that he was the youngest there.

Oikawa could kind of understand the boy’s nerves, but it was hard for him to completely relate since he personally knew and was comfortable with all the regular third-year members. One of them was even his best friend. And, honestly, he felt if anyone should feel weird it would definitely be his tutor, ‘cause she stuck out like a sore thumb. She was the only one of them even dressed differently since they all sported the team jacket and pants.

“Let’s get udon!” Iwaizumi very suddenly demanded, breaking the setter from his thoughts.

“We just had ramen the other day,” Matsukawa openly complained.

The ace raised his brow, seeming almost offended by the comment. “And? They’re not the same thing.”

“I want more variety than noodles.” The middle-blocker folded his arms together crossly, as if insinuating that his point had been made.

The two stood daringly staring at one another, neither seeming willing to give in to the other’s suggestion. 

“Let’s just go to the food court,” Hanamaki suggested with a shrug. “I wanted to walk around the mall anyway.”

Oikawa perked at this. “That’s a good idea,” he enthused, suddenly very excited with the thoughts of accompanying his tutor around the bustling area. Though, he had to bite his tongue back to keep himself from commenting on how his tutor probably hasn’t walked around the mall with friends in years.

“Are you fine with that (y/n)-chan?” he instead asked the idling girl.

She stiffly nodded in response, confirming Oikawa’s earlier suspicions about the girl’s nerves getting the best of her.

“Alright,” Oikawa clapped his hands together, turning on his heel in order to face the opposite direction. “Let’s head out then!”

He began to lead the way towards the school’s gate, but made sure to keep pace with the girl next to him. He hoped she and Kindaichi both got over their nerves soon, for it would really only be a burden to themselves at the end of the day. He especially wanted to make sure the girl beside him enjoyed herself, especially when she was with him and his team. He wanted her to grow comfortable with the idea, after all.

His worries lightened a bit as he watched how Kindaichi jogged up next to the girl and began to formally introduce himself to her, as he had wanted to do earlier at practice.

He smiled at their awkwardness and looked away with a chuckle.

Well, even if she were uncomfortable, he was confident in his ability to help her feel at ease with them, even if it took a bit of time.

. . .

Oikawa idly looked up, finishing off the rest of his drink in-hand while staring down the two walking ahead of the group through an observant, hooded gaze.

The five of them were just now leaving the food court, the trio beside him having all decided to get ramen and udon in the end (despite their earlier dispute) while his tutor and Kindaichi had simultaneously rushed at the first burger place they saw. The act seemed to create some unknown, invisible force of unity between the two, for (y/n) had suddenly seemed openly comfortable around the tall first-year, and the same applied to the underclassman as well.

And it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; Oikawa actually felt relief in the fact that they were no longer tense like they had been when they were all making their way to the mall. But at the same time, he had been looking forward to the nervous tutor clinging to his side for that very same comfort that she now extruded towards the younger middle-blocker.

Thinking back to it, didn’t the girl just seem to get weirdly comfortable with underclassmen in general? First it was Yahaba, and now Kindaichi…

“Poor Oikawa always loses out to his kouhai,” a teasing voice sounded beside him, followed by a reassuring pat on his shoulder that felt more mocking than comforting.

Oikawa rolled his eyes at the gesture, shrugging his shoulder away from the wing-spiker.

“You’re such an open book when it comes to your petty jealousy,” Iwaizumi blatantly regarded.

“What? Who’s jealous?” Oikawa huffed. “You guys should quit assuming things. It really isn’t cute at all.” He strode ahead at that, throwing his empty cup into the trash while moving on to catch up with his tutor and younger classmate.

“Why does he think we want to be called cute by him anyway?” he heard Matsukawa say behind him, followed by similar ques of confusion from the other two.

He found himself piercing his lips at the comment. That wasn’t even the point!

“What’s up with you?” a soft voice came from beside him, filled with an obvious touch of laughter. Oikawa glanced down to see the shorter girl now next to him observing his obvious annoyance with a look of amusement that matched her tone.

“Nothing,” he droned, slinging his hands behind his head and breaking contact from the staring girl. “Those three are just harassing me again.”

“So, nothing new?” 

He snorted at the remark. “Yeah, pretty much.” Oikawa then looked over at Kindaichi who was also eyeing him, the first-year breaking contact as soon as Oikawa’s gaze had unexpectedly met his. The captain bit back a laugh at the movement, wondering what the boy was being so jumpy for anyway. “So, what were you guys talking about?”

“Well,” the girl started, glancing toward the first-year herself, “I was just asking Kindaichi-kun if he was looking for anything in particular today.”

“I’m not really looking for anything to buy,” the boy responded with a thoughtful gaze upwards. “Though I wouldn’t mind looking at some shoes or manga maybe...”

Oikawa chortled, “Those are two very different things,” he mused while pointing at the suddenly embarrassed underclassman. “Such a youthful, boyish thing to want. I like that about you, Kindaichi-kun~”

“So humiliating. He always makes himself sound like a proud aunt,” Iwaizumi commented, the three third-years having quickly caught up behind them. Oikawa found himself jolting at the sudden interjection, and he looked back with an obvious look of offense fixed over him.

“It’s uncle, not aunt. Obviously, it’s uncle!”

The group instantaneously began to laugh at the retort, much to Oikawa’s disdain. Though he very soon found himself fighting a smile as he watched the girl beside him hover a hand over her mouth in attempt to cover her fit of hilarity, ineffectively hiding the red glow on her cheeks.

As they walked on from there, the mood of the day seemed to hit a comfortable high. Both the previously tense first-year middle-blocker and third-year girl were finally at complete ease with the group, and the normally pestering trio were effortlessly making sure to make the said two feel included.

“Oh, let’s check that place out,” Iwaizumi suddenly chimed, pointing towards the heavily lit-up store near them. It was a 100-yen shop, a place the team’s ace absolutely could not ever refuse to have a look-around in.

They all made their way into the store and Oikawa found himself unconsciously following behind the shorter girl as the group dispersed to wander around.

Oikawa glanced over towards the area where Matsukawa and Hanamaki had wandered over with Kindaichi, where they stood looking through the candy together. Iwaizumi on the other hand was wandering alone, seeming to be on the hunt for something specific. 

“Everything is so cheap,” the girl suddenly commented. Oikawa turned back to find her pointing towards the shelves ahead of her with a brilliant shine of excitement fixed in her gaze.

“That’s sort of the point, right?” he chuckled, finding her eagerness amusing. 

The two continued down the aisle, picking up random objects here and there to either ogle over or to question why anyone would ever need it. Oikawa soon became very wary over the fact that he was watching for the girl’s reaction to everything, maybe a little too much. Definitely more than necessary, at the very least.

But he found himself finding joy in the very fact that she was enjoying herself and he just as soon found that he was losing himself in the nice atmosphere surrounding them.

“Oi, oi, look at this,” he excitedly patted at the girl’s shoulder, gesturing for her attention. Turning to face him, the girl suddenly jumped as she was met with an unexpected face of the mask that Oikawa held over his face. The mask looked to be one of a demon’s face, smiling widely in a extensively unnerving matter.

The girl laughed at the sight, putting her hand to her chin in a pondering gesture. “Hmm, it’s an improvement, I’d say,” she lightly teased.

“So this is the type of face you’re into?” Oikawa asked, continuing to hold the mask up to his face. “Would you swoon if a face like this asked you out?” he laughed, leaning closer to the giggling girl.

“That mask suits you, demon-kawa,” Iwaizumi’s voice suddenly perked from the side.

Oikawa and the girl in front of him turned to face the watching ace. The brunette move the mask from his face then, pouting slightly. “It just makes me annoyed hearing that from you, Iwa-chan.”

He then noticed the stationary items the ace held in his hands, looking to be two notebooks and a pack of pencils. “Oh, did you need those for school?”

Iwaizumi glanced down at the items. “Yeah, I like to have extra. Especially since exams are coming soon.”

“That’s a good idea,” his tutor commented, looking up towards Oikawa. “We should also grab some stuff while we’re here.” 

“Yeah, I suppose we should,” he sighed, suddenly feeling a bit down at the sudden reminder of exams. What was more surprising was that he was more distraught over the fact that he would get to study with (y/n) less with the tournament coming up soon. He also noted that he would have to tell her about that later.

Iwaizumi waved his hand, gesturing for them to follow. As they began to walk, the ace led the way back towards the area he had apparently just come from.

They were soon in an aisle full of stationary school items. Iwaizumi walked over to the middle of the aisle and bent down, pointing towards a section of notebooks on a bottom shelf. “I really like the paper in these ones,” he commented before getting back up to turn and point at a particular set of mechanical pencils across the aisle. “And these write very smoothly.”

The girl moved beside the ace, reaching towards the pencils and pulling them down to observe them for herself. Oikawa found it funny how seriously some people took their school materials, though he could understand to some extent. To him, getting a good eraser was the most important thing.

He moved next to the two and looked over the girl’s shoulder, observing the product himself.

“Oh, hey,” Iwaizumi suddenly spoke. Both Oikawa and (y/n) glanced toward the ace in confusion, only to see that he was looking passed them. They turned to follow his stare, Oikawa’s gaze soon coming in contact with a somewhat familiar face at the end of the aisle.

The staring girl ahead looked anything but happy to see the two, but Oikawa smiled despite the fact. Raising his hand to wave, he was soon cut off from his greeting when the girl hastily turned and wandered away toward the store’s entrance.

Iwaizumi tilted his head in confusion. “Was I wrong? That was your ex, right, Oikawa?”

Oikawa frowned, turning away from his two friends who were now curiously staring at him.

“Ahh, yeah that was definitely her,” he sheepishly answered, uncomfortably rubbing at the back of his head.

“Did you do something to her?” his tutor hesitantly asked. “She seemed upset.”

“No…not really?” Oikawa turned back only to face the girl’s analyzing stare. His brows scrunched together frustratingly at the fact and he broke eye contact before he could continue.

“She’s the one who broke up with me anyway. We went out for a bit, and it just didn’t work out. I mean, the rest of my ex’s are the same way. After we break up, we lose contact. They don’t want to speak with me anymore.”

He paused after this and crossed his arms together stubbornly, tilting his head slightly. “That’s pretty standard though, don’t you think?”

“Is it…?” the girl quietly responded, almost sounding as if she were thinking aloud rather than responding to him.

There was a pause of silence as she seemed to be brooding over something. “That…That would just be sad,” she finally continued. “It’s like sacrificing your friendship for a relationship.”

“Not really,” Oikawa immediately answered. “I was never really friends with them to begin with. They were just my girlfriends. Didn’t I tell you already that you’re my first female friend?”

She blinked at this, staring at him and looking unsure of what to say in response. After a minute, she finally broke away from his gaze, awkwardly looking back to the pencils in her hand. “Is that so…?” she softly muttered. 

Oikawa was confused by her reaction. Was she offended or something? He didn’t mean for it to come off as cruel or anything.

“Friendships mean way more to me than relationships ever have,” he ended up saying, as if he were trying to reassure the suddenly downcast girl. “So it’s not a big deal…”

He turned his head and aimlessly stared at the ground, kicking his feet in attempt to distract himself, for the current conversation was anything but comfortable.

He noticed as the ace glanced between the two, seeming unsure of what to say himself.

“Oi guys!” a shout suddenly came from down the aisle. They all turned to see the rest of the three members waiting, Hanamaki waving towards them. “You guys done?”

The ace spared Oikawa one more glance, but he avoided his friend’s gaze.

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi finally called back, sounding exhausted and probably looking annoyed. He walked away then, making his way toward his teammates. “I just need to pay for these.”

Oikawa glanced toward the girl then, but she continued to look everywhere but at him.

“Are you going to get anything?” he quietly asked.

“Mmm, nah,” she muttered, placing the object in-hand back onto the shelf she had pulled it from. She moved ahead of him then, going over to where the other four waited.

Oikawa sighed to himself and scratched at his head in frustration.

Seriously, what just happened?


	9. Chapter 9

Oikawa’s eyes snapped open, suddenly nose-to-nose with a cluttered stack of books. A soft grunt fell from his lips as he rose from the slumped over possession he had been in, unable to ignore the stiff pain that now rested over his back. His mind felt foggy and his eyes heavy.

The brunette looked around him, rubbing at the soreness of his face. The ache made him wonder just how long he had been sleeping on that uncomfortable surface. His eyes then began to adjust to the dark surroundings as he glanced about, finally recognizing the familiar set-up of his room. When had he even gotten back?

His mind kept drawing blanks as he tried to think back, so he simply shook the thought away. There was no point in thinking too much about it anyway; his mind felt as if it were in a daze. He would just sleep it off and think more about it later.

Oikawa pushed himself off the floor and slowly trudged over to his bed, desperate to fall back into the grip of his exhaustion. As he got ready to pull the blankets on his bed down and fall onto the mattress before him, he noticed the outline of a figure underneath his sheets. He immediately froze at this, hand still hovering over the top of his blanket as he stared.

Who…? Wait. Was his mind just playing tricks on him or—

Before he could finish his thought, he was soon distracted by the sudden movement of the covers and he watched as they slowly pulled down to reveal a familiar face.

“(Y/n)-chan!?” he exclaimed, taking a step back in his surprise.

The girl blinked at him. Her hair was ruffled over and obvious exhaustion masked over her expression. She tilted her head in a questioning manner.

“Tooru, what’s the matter?” she mumbled out sleepily.

Oikawa stared in silent astonishment.

What had she just called him? Wait—that wasn’t as important. What was she doing sleeping in his bed to begin with?

“I don’t understand,” he finally managed. “What are you doing here?”

She let out a yawn and pulled herself up, rubbing lazily at her eyes. “What do you mean? You asked me to sleep here with you.”

Oikawa felt as if his head was spinning.

“What are you talking about? I don’t remember asking that…”

Had he? There’s no way…Right? When he tried recalling the events leading up to then, his mind still only faced a blank wall. 

The girl giggled, seemingly amused by his confusion. “You must be tired, Tooru.”

Wait, did she really just giggle like that? (Y/n)? His stubborn, snarky tutor?

“This doesn’t make any sense,” he muttered frustratingly, suddenly growing impatient with the confusing scenario. “Since when did you start calling me Tooru? And when would you ever just casually go along with sleeping in my bed?”

The girl met his insistent questions with a simple smile. She crawled over to the side of his bed, swinging her legs over the edge and standing up in one fluent motion. Oikawa eyed her warily as she stood before him.

She suddenly stepped forward then, and he found himself unsure as of what to do as she moved to close the distance between them—her smile remaining intact all the while.

Though it was her, it was obviously her, something just wasn’t right. This girl standing in front of him seemed like a complete stranger to Oikawa. 

He found himself flinching as she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling herself closer to him. His face flushed at the contact, but he was too flustered to do anything. He stood frozen with the same dumbfounded expression that had been on his face since he discovered the girl in his bed.

“Oi…” he hesitantly warned. “You…We shouldn’t be doing this…”

She ignored him and instead began to trace his back with her hands, causing him to tense at the notion. She pushed herself onto her toes, leaning up towards Oikawa and quickly closing the distance between them, almost as if she was going in for a…

“Stop,” he demanded, more firmly this time. “You’re not acting like yourself. Let’s just stop.”

She froze for a second, her eyes opening into a narrowed, watchful glare before she finally let him go.

Oikawa cautiously eyed the girl as her gaze lowered towards the ground, a dissatisfied frown forming over her lips.

“(Y/n)?” he questioned, hesitantly reaching out to grab at her shoulder. She easily avoided his grasp and instead walked past him.

He watched as she headed towards his room’s door and began to follow after her then. He called out to her again, only to be met with continuous silence. As she began to leave his room, he found himself reaching forward, attempting to grab at her once more.

“Oi, (y/n), why are you ignoring me—”

He jolted to a stop at the rattling slam of the door in his face.

Oikawa’s eyes fluttered open and he soon found himself squinting at the sudden brightness. He pulled himself upwards, shaking from the heavy breaths that dragged throughout his body. He twisted to the side, hastily glancing around him.

He was in his bed. In his room. It looked as if it was still day time, and his lights were even left on.

He ran a hand through his hair as his mind struggled to catch up with the present.

It was a dream. Obviously, it was a dream. It was too weird for it to be real…

His eyes moved along the sheets of his bed and stopped on the device that rested near his hand. He grabbed at it and illuminated the screen with a click of a button, being met with a display of familiar messages from the day before.

He frowned at the sight, the memories of yesterday bringing back an unwanted, burning discomfort in his stomach.

(Y/n) had continued to act distant towards Oikawa for the remainder of that day. Even after they all left, Oikawa texted the girl later to be met with the same reserved responses. In fact, her responses were not only as blunt as ever, he actually felt that they somehow managed to carry an even more detached tone to them than usual (and he didn’t think doing that was even possible).

Looking back on it now, he wished that he had just waited to tell her about the upcoming tournament. It meant more days practicing, less days for her to tutor him, and, of course, less time for them to spend together…Or he wished that he had at least told her sooner, before all this tension and awkwardness came about. But, unfortunately, that just wasn’t the case.

He continued to scroll through the short conversation on his phone, soon pouting to himself in disdain.

She didn’t even reply to my goodnight text, he internally whined. 

Oikawa let out a frustrated sigh and threw himself backwards, falling flat onto his bed with a loud ‘plop.’ He stared aimlessly at the white canvas of his roof, frowning bitterly to himself.

That dream might not have been reality, but it wasn’t like actual reality was any better. Because the truth of the matter was that (y/n) was upset, and he really didn’t understand the reason why.

After a minute of lying in his frustration, Oikawa finally glanced down at himself, realizing he was still dressed in his practice uniform. He must have had fallen asleep as soon as he had gotten home.

He pulled himself up and swung his legs over his bed, soon pausing at the edge. The motion (along with the place he sat) suddenly gave him flashbacks of his most recent dream. He found himself grimacing in result, recalling the events that had taken place.

Why did he dream something like that anyway? He knew that he had the tendency to dream more when he was stressed, but he never had a dream quite like that…

He suddenly found his face warming at the realization that it was his mind that created that scenario. That very scenario where his tutor was not only sleeping in his bed via his own request, but where she also intimately clung to him, acted more cutesy and giggle-y than normal. Not to mention the fact that she was obviously trying to kiss him…

The flashing image of the girl leaning up towards him with closed eyes and perking lips had his face suddenly go from warm to burning. He slapped his hands onto his cheeks then, desperately patting at them in attempt to physically make the image go away.

He would never tell anyone about that dream. Nobody. Not even Iwaizumi. Actually, especially not Iwaizumi.

He shook his head as if to clear his mind and made his way to his dresser, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it into the nearby hamper.

As he was rummaging for a clean shirt, the sudden buzz of his phone had his head turning. He paused then, immediately wondering if it was his familiar tutor. Could she have been texting him about why she was acting weird yesterday? Well, even if that wasn’t the case, Oikawa felt excited over her contacting him at all.

He grabbed at his phone and ogled it expectantly, obviously hoping to see a certain familiar name light up across the screen. He soon instead felt a frown setting over his face as the name ‘Iwa-chan’ displayed instead.

“Iwa-chan, you idiooot,” he quietly groaned before sitting at the edge of his bed and clicking to see the message, despite his disappointment. 

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 3:04 PM]  
Yo. Is (y/n)-san still acting weird?  
You seemed distracted today at practice. 

Oikawa sighed to himself while scratching at his head with his free hand.

He really needed to stop letting this outside stuff affect him in the court. It not only ruined his practice, but it obviously concerned his friends as well.

He began to slowly type back his reply, but was apprehensive over what to say. Every time he would type out something he looked it over again and again, feeling dissatisfied each time.

Oikawa wanted his distress to come off, but not to the point where he would seem overly concerned. He didn’t want Iwaizumi badgering him about clinginess or anything. Despite this, by the time he finally sent a response, it was because he had grown impatient with rewording essentially the same message over and over again.

[to: Iwa-chan~, 3:09 PM]  
Yeaaaah…Sorry about that. >_<;  
I don’t know what to do, Iwa-chan!!!  
I haven’t even heard from her once today.. (╥_╥)

It seemed just as soon as he had sent the message his phone was vibrating yet again in his hand.

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 3:10 PM]  
You’re worrying too much.

Oikawa snorted at the message. Well, wasn’t there reason to worry? But before he could even start typing his response, another message came through.

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 3:10 PM]  
I doubt it’s anything serious.

Oikawa eyed the texted with a doubtful stare.

[to: Iwa-chan~, 3:11 PM]  
How can you say that so confidently Iwa-chan??  
What if she hates me now!?

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 3:11 PM]  
Well, you “hated” her not too long ago, right?

The reply was immediate and had Oikawa pouting in result. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear! It was obviously the perfect time for Iwaizumi to reassure him, not patronize him!

Stupid Iwa-chan, the boy frustratingly thought as he angrily tapped at his phone. The next text interrupted him mid-complaint.

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 3:12 PM]  
Seriously though. Just give her time. Don’t bother her. 

Oikawa’s mouth nearly gaped at the suggestion.

[to: Iwa-chan~, 3:13 PM]  
Wait, wait, wait. So I shouldn’t contact her today??

His look of dismay only deepened as his friend’s response came in.

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 3:13 PM]  
Nope. If she wanted to talk to you, she would have done so by now. 

Okay, that one kind of felt like a low blow. It probably wasn’t intentional, but the truth really knew how to sneak some good hits in.

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 3:13 PM]  
You’ll see her tomorrow anyway.  
Trust me. She’ll open up when she’s ready.

Well, it’s easier said than done…Was what he wanted to say, but instead he texted his friend a reluctant ‘Fiiine’ (along with a ridiculous emoticon that the ace most likely didn’t even understand, but that was beside the point). 

Oikawa just didn’t enjoy waiting things out like this. Especially situations like this in particular. He hated the gnawing feeling that currently posed over him. Just knowing that his friend was upset was enough to throw him off, but adding the potential that the anger was directed towards him didn’t help either.

He wanted to get it out of the way already. He wanted her to just tell him what was up, and then he wanted them to figure out a way to fix it. All this waiting in between did nothing but make him want it done faster.

Oikawa stared at this phone, debating once again whether to message the girl or not. He clicked on her name and was presented once again with their previous conversation, seeing how his last message was still left without a reply. He gave up a disgruntled breath at that.

It might have been the harder and more annoying decision, but Iwaizumi was probably right…Oikawa just needed to give her time. He would talk to her about it tomorrow instead. It would be fine.

He got up then and went to go grab for a shirt from his still open dresser, starting to feel the chill in his room. He pulled the top over his head and moved to sit at his desk, leaning onto it with crossed arms.

It’ll be fine…He thought to himself once more, ignoring the nagging feeling that actually made him think the opposite. Just fine…

. . .

“Iwa-chan, you were wrong! I should have never listened to you!” Oikawa cried, waving his phone in front of the annoyed looking ace. “She does hate me!”

Iwaizumi’s eyes glowered towards the loud captain. “Can’t say I really blame her…”

“Iwa-channn!” Oikawa only increased in volume.

The ace sighed with a roll of his eyes, crossing his arms. “Okay, seriously, just look,” he grabbed at the phone being held before him and turned it towards the staring brunette, pointing at the screen. “She doesn’t even sound mad, does she?”

The boy’s question came off sounding more as a demand, leading to Oikawa’s speculative stare and prominent pout.

It was true that the text sounded more apologetic than anything, but the timing just seemed way too convenient. Oikawa had been anticipating his tutoring session today since Sunday, so to instead be met with a text from the girl explaining how she had to cancel due to “after school activities…” Well, he would be lying if he said he thought the change in plans wasn’t in any way associated with what had happened Saturday. That had to be the actual reason, right?

But, at the same time, Oikawa just couldn’t see the girl skipping out on her obligations, let alone making up excuses for it. No matter what emotional baggage she was carrying, he honestly didn’t think she would do that…He felt like he knew at least that much about her.

Besides, maybe it was better they didn’t meet today…Things were bound to still be weird. There was even a chance that things could get worse between them if they met up.

Oikawa sighed.

He could tell himself that all he wanted, but in the end they were just methods of self-reassurance. None of it took away the fact that he just really wanted to see her…

He slumped over the desk in his frustration, Iwaizumi moving the phone out of the way in time as the resounding thud of the captain’s head hit the wooden surface.

“Don’t stress so much,” Iwaizumi spoke, in an attempt to sound sympathetic. Oikawa glanced up with a defeated look.

“I don’t like thinking she’s mad at me…”

The ace frowned and looked away, seeming to be pondering over what to say.

“I know I don’t know her as well as you,” he started, “but…I’m pretty sure she isn’t mad. So, seriously, don’t stress out so much over it.”

Oikawa admitted that his friend’s words slightly settled the brewing feeling of uncertainty inside him. It was rare for Iwaizumi to get this genuine with his advice, but he was always good at being able to tell when Oikawa was starting to seriously stress out over something. The ace would describe it as Oikawa ‘being more annoying than usual, but in a way where you can’t help but pity him.’ And, honestly, he wasn’t wrong…

Oikawa began to nod glumly at the ace’s reassurance, opening his mouth to respond before Iwaizumi suddenly started again.

“But if she cancels again Wednesday, then...Well, I promise I won’t complain about your whining if it comes to that.”

“Oi!” Oikawa pushed himself up and desperately began knocking at his desk. “Don’t jinx anything, stupid Iwa-chan!”

The ace smirked, indicating his obvious teasing. “It won’t come to that. Just be sure not to badger her too much, okay?”

Oikawa froze in his actions and frowned to himself. Again, all he could think was that it was easier said than done. Plus, being repeatedly told not to bother her only made him want to do it more.

Oikawa must have held an expression of obvious opposition, for Iwaizumi was soon sending him a trying look.

“Seriously, you’ll probably make it worse if you push it.”

Oikawa dropped his head in obvious defeat. “So you’re saying it’s already really bad?”

“You know what I mean,” the ace replied with a roll of his eyes, indicating his impatience with a quick sigh.

Oikawa let out a frustrated groan for what felt like the millionth time that day. “Seriously, I hate this!” He saw Iwaizumi getting ready to either scold or consul him again (he honestly couldn’t tell sometimes, given Iwaizumi’s perpetually stern exterior), but he interrupted the ace before he could start. “But I get it. Don’t bug (y/n)-chan no matter how badly I want to. I’ll leave it until she contacts me, or until Wednesday.”

Oikawa forced a bright grin towards the ace. “Thanks Iwa-chan! You’re useful for some things~”

“Yeah, like playing love counselor for your relationships apparently,” Iwaizumi immediately shot back.

Oikawa flushed, both from the accusation and the extremely random and inconvenient flashbacks of his dream that seemed to trigger from it. Images of the shorter girl pressing herself against him and leaning up towards him with puckered lips played through his mind and he quickly pinched at his own cheek, turning away from his friend’s stare. 

“I take it back. You’re useless,” Oikawa muttered, making sure his expression was hidden from Iwaizumi. He didn’t want the ace to see the embarrassment written over his face, lest it led to dangerous questions. He decided it was probably better to change the subject all together.

“So, what do you have planned for the rest of the day, Iwa-chan?” he asked as he rose from his chair, pulling his school bag over his shoulder and grabbing his phone off the table.

Oikawa heard Iwaizumi’s chair squeak as the boy pushed himself up from his desk as well. “Homework,” he responded, following behind Oikawa who led the way out of the practically barren classroom.

Oikawa tilted his head, humming to himself in wonder. Speaking of after school plans, he wasn’t sure what he would do now that he had no practice or tutoring to look forward to. Thinking about it now, it was funny how the first couple of weeks of his tutoring sessions was him completely dreading the simple idea of it. Every Monday just felt like a pain in the ass. Now here he was, frustrated over the thought of suddenly having those ‘dreaded’ lessons taken away from him.

Well, it wasn’t really the lessons he would miss…

He shook the thoughts away from his head.

“I guess I’ll head to Lil Tykes…” he finally muttered to himself. There was a pause of silence, and Oikawa found that he couldn’t quite rid his mind of his tutor after all. He was soon pouting once again. “Is it Wednesday yet?” he groaned pathetically.

Iwaizumi snorted, and Oikawa could practically hear his eyes roll. “You’re seriously something. All this stress for just a friend, huh?”

“Shut up, Iwa-chan…” Oikawa whined, not feeling the energy to defend himself in his usually more animated manner.

The ace sent a sideways look towards the captain and was soon sighing himself. “Alright, I’m going to come with you to Lil Tykes today and make sure you don’t think about this anymore. Seriously, I will punch you if you do.”

Oikawa immediately brightened at the thought of the much needed company. Not having to deal with his wandering thoughts by himself for the rest of the day would definitely be a blessing on its own.

He clasped his hands together and turned towards his friend. “Iwa-chan, you’re the best!”

“Sure, sure,” the ace grunted. “Now let’s head out so we’re not late.” 

Iwaizumi strode ahead then, Oikawa following after him with a toothy grin spreading over his face.

. . .

Oikawa wasn’t normally the type to get flustered, particularly when it came to girls. He was never the type to get easily embarrassed at all; usually he was able to brush things off with a grin or a joke. But he was coming to a quick realization that everything he found normal for himself was just as soon thrown out the window by his familiar tutor—this girl who managed to evoke many strange actions and feelings from him.

Especially now, as Oikawa anxiously sat at the Seijou library waiting for said girl to show up…

He thought back to Monday and how he and Iwaizumi had gone to Lil Tykes after school. The ace had done a pretty good job of keeping Oikawa’s thoughts in check, and Oikawa was even able to see his nephew after what felt like a long time. Not to mention he had fun practicing with all the kids…The whole thing just made him feel relieved, like things were back to normal. But it unfortunately didn’t last long.

As soon as he had gotten home, the solitude and silence of his room only became fuel for his previously caged thoughts. All the nerves and worry from before came back like they had never left in the first place. In the end, he was just really anxious over what would become of him and (y/n)’s relationship. He never had gotten into any weird altercations like this before with a friend, and so he wasn’t sure how to handle not only the situation, but the emotional baggage that came along with it.

And Tuesday went no better. It was like one step forward and a hundred steps back. Oikawa was so tempted to go look for the short girl during lunch, but was otherwise convinced (or forced) by Iwaizumi to stay put.

“How many times do I have to tell you?” his friend had started, brow twitching the way it did when his patience began to dwindle away. “Just give her time.”

“I just want to make things good again,” Oikawa weakly argued back. “This waiting is going to be the death of me!”

But he knew he was just being selfish. He knew rushing for an answer could simply lead to more of the very thing he dreaded at the moment—Waiting.

And it annoyed him how transparent he was apparently being with the whole thing. Though he wasn’t really holding himself back when it came to complaining in front of Iwaizumi, that didn’t explain the rest of his team’s strange behavior at yesterday’s practice. The lack of banter and unusual amount of quiet consideration was…unsettling. 

Even the normal teasing and provocation from Hanamaki and Matsukawa was otherwise nonexistent. The two had gone as far as to offer (or more like insist) on treating Oikawa to some ramen after practice (which he graciously accepted, despite the strangeness).

The underclassmen on the other hand had seemed to be treading carefully around him, as if the slightest thing would set Oikawa off. The only normal ones were the coaches and Kunimi. The apathetic boy honestly looked just as taken aback by everyone’s behavior as Oikawa was. The coaches simply got annoyed after a while.

Oikawa wasn’t sure if Iwaizumi had told the team something unnecessary (and probably untrue), but he’d prefer that over everyone just seeing their captain acting like a pathetic, lost puppy and responding with unnatural behavior because of it. He would hate if that were the case. 

He really tried to keep his composure throughout the practice after that. If his teammates could easily see through him, he didn’t want to consider what (y/n) would say about his behavior. The absolute last thing he would want was for her to see just how affected he was by her sudden distance. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but he definitely would rather have her not notice. Especially today, the day he finally got to speak to her again.

Oikawa glanced up at the clock on the wall.

Well, hopefully got to speak to her. If she didn’t cancel again, that is…

He sighed to himself, slumping over the textbooks and notes that he already had sprawled open in front of him.

Maybe he should text her? Or would that be annoying, or “pushy,” as Iwaizumi had been insisting for the last couple of days?

Or maybe…maybe things would just be different from now on.

He frowned at the thought. He didn’t know how he would feel about it if that were the case. No…Actually, that was a lie. He knew exactly how he would feel. It would suck, and he would hate it. It was as simple as that.

“Hey…”

Oikawa lifted his head to see the familiar girl ahead of him, standing with her bag in hand, seeming to look everywhere but at him while nervously shuffling her feet on the ground.

“Hey,” he responded, feeling caught off guard by her sudden appearance. It also felt as if her obvious display of nerves were only adding to his own.

She blinked, looking up so that their eyes finally met, but for only a second. She soon glanced away again, pulling out the chair in front of her as if to keep herself busy and sitting so that she was directly across from Oikawa.

“I’m sorry about Monday,” she suddenly spoke, finally glancing up at him to meet his gaze. “My teacher has been needing help after school lately, but I was always busy. I couldn’t get out of it this time. So, yeah…I’m sorry.”

He felt a bit startled by the genuine apology, and then guilty for having doubted her before, even if it was only for a bit.

“It’s fine,” he finally answered, straightening himself up and scratching at the back of his head. “I understand…”

And then suddenly it was awkward again.

His eyes wandered back to the notes in front of him and hers to the empty spot before her. The tension floating between the two was thick and probably visible to any wandering eyes. Oikawa began to wonder if he should have dragged out her apology some more. He definitely would have preferred that over this awkward strain between them now.

He glanced back up to see her nervously fiddling with her hands. He then wanted to slap himself over the immediate thought that had crossed his mind, acknowledging how cute she looked doing so. Now was definitely not the time for that. But…what exactly did the situation call for?

His mind drew a blank.

Perhaps he should have spent all that time he had in the last couple of days actually considering what to say to the girl rather than pouting.

Should he just be straight forward and ask what had happened Saturday? Ask why she had been acting so weird since then? Ask about what exactly it was that had upset her?

But it looked like he was saved from having to start their long awaited conversation, for (y/n) was soon letting out a disgruntled sigh and bowing her head in obvious shame.

“Oikawa, I’m sorry…” she started. She sent him a look, brows knitted together and eyes wide with concern. “I’m sorry about the way I’ve been acting. I know it’s been bothering you, yet I’ve still…” her words wandered away and she ended it with another sad sigh as she looked back down towards the wooden surface of the table.

Oikawa desperately wanted to reach out and pat at her head, or just give her some form of comfort. He just…he didn’t want to see her looking like that. Especially knowing that he was the cause.

“(Y/n),” he muttered, his voice quiet. He waited for her to look back up at him. When her eyes finally met with his own, he started again. “Don’t apologize. Just let me know what’s bothering you. I want to help, but I won’t know how unless you talk to me.” 

Her face began to flush, her embarrassment and fluster only growing more obvious as she broke away from his stare.

“It’s stupid…” she started. “What we talked about Saturday really bothered me. I just really didn’t like that concept of yours, how you see a relationship and friendship as two separate things. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and even about…” she stopped and shook her head silently.

“What?” Oikawa asked.

“Never mind—the point is…” she glanced back up at him, her eyes seeming more set this time, more determined. “What exactly am I to you Oikawa?”

He flinched, as if the question was a threat to him rather than just that—a question. But it was intimidating enough to him to resemble something seemingly dangerous. And he was unsure as of how to answer, for his response had the potential to backfire. Still, he couldn’t avoid it. 

He glanced to the side, then back to the girl again. “You’re…my friend,” he finally replied.

He couldn’t tell what she thought about his answer through the expression on her face. She looked as if they were discussing simple business, as if she had just asked what grade he had gotten on his last test.

“So, like Iwaizumi-san?” she asked.

Oikawa visible cringed at that. Comparing the two on the same level was just…weird.

“No, he’s like a brother. You’re more like…Well, you’re someone I’m comfortable with. I feel like I’ve known you for a long time despite the time we actually have known each other.” He watched her expression soften at his words, and he felt his own do the same. “You’re important to me, you know?”

Her eyes creased from the small smile that traced over her lips. “You’re important to me too.”

Oikawa flushed at her words, mimicking the already colored girl before him.

Silence followed, yet this time it wasn’t painfully surrounding them like before. Now it was nice. It was comfortable. And he was definitely alright with it, because it felt more endearing than anything. And it gave him time to think about her words and how embarrassingly happy they made him feel. Those simple words.

“I’m seriously sorry for being so weird the last couple of days,” she finally broke the spell with a sheepish laugh.

Oikawa couldn’t help but laugh himself. “Let’s just be more honest with each other next time so we don’t have to go through something like this again. Okay?”

“Definitely,” she grinned.

Oikawa felt an ache in his chest at the sight, and he wanted to do nothing more but to reach over and pinch at her cheeks. Honestly, he just wanted some form of contact with her.

“You should come sit next to me,” he suddenly suggested, pulling the chair beside him out as if to emphasize the point.

She tilted her head with a stubborn frown. “Why? So you can harass me easier?”

“C’mon,” Oikawa teasingly started, “you know you’ve missed it. Don’t tell me you haven’t. I can see your cheeks just begging for me to pinch them.”

“Oh, shut up,” she huffed. But the demand was empty, for the girl was soon moving herself over to the chair beside him. She shoved him lightly with her shoulder as she passed around him to get to the seat and Oikawa laughed at the gesture. 

Geez, this is just…He couldn’t fight the grin on his face as he watched her move into the seat next him and began to unpack her things, setting them out in front of her.

He just felt so light. Like the burdensome worries that had rested over him since Saturday had fallen from his shoulders and he could finally sit up straight and face the day with his usual charm and cheer. 

He let out a sigh of relief.

Honestly, he wouldn’t have known what do if things had still been weird come game day—

Oh.

Game day.

That was surprisingly soon.

The girl seemed to notice the whiplash of emotions playing over Oikawa’s face, for her head was soon tilting with obvious confusion. “What’s wrong?”

He glanced to her and then looked up at the roof with a shrug. “Nothing serious. I just remembered that the Interhigh Preliminaries were coming up really soon. Like, really soon.”

“Right,” the girl spoke, brows twisting together slightly. “So this our last tutoring session for a while, huh?”

Oh. Right….And there was that too.

The weight was suddenly back and heavier than ever.

“It’ll be fine,” the girl reassured him with a kind smile. The look of disappointment on his face must have been obvious. “Don’t look like that,” she finished, confirming Oikawa’s thoughts.

He pouted towards her. “Aren’t you sad too?”

She glanced away thoughtfully and gave a slight shrug. “The timing is actually pretty convenient for me,” she admitted. “My teacher has been wanting some more help after school, so he’d be glad to hear that I’m available.”

“Is that so?” Oikawa frowned, not bothering to hide his displeasure. 

A teasing glint shone over the girl’s gaze. “I didn’t realize how much you enjoyed learning English. Will you really miss the lessons that much?”

He let out a soft snort of laughter and shot her a look, smiling all the while. “Don’t be silly, (y/n)-chan. It’s you I’ll miss.”

She blinked at his statement, her face tinting at the realization of his words. She frowned with obvious fluster and reached towards him. Oikawa found himself laughing as her fingers pinched at his cheeks.

“Don’t tease me, stupid,” she muttered. 

Oikawa felt an addicting warmth flow over him from her touch. His smile suddenly softened. He stared down her flustered features through a hooded gaze and grabbed at her hands, pulling them from his cheeks and instead holding them in his own grasp. There was such a blatant size difference in their hands, hers feeling so small and fragile.

“Oikawa…?” the girl quietly questioned, meeting his lowered gaze hers.

Her face looked warm with color, though Oikawa could probably say the same for his own.

“Yeah?” he muttered, pulling her hands closer to him, tempted to press them to his lips. “Does this bother you?”

He really didn’t know what he was doing at the moment. Well, he did, but he couldn’t be bothered to make himself stop.

But just as suddenly as it had started, it ended with the girl tearing her hands from his grasp. She shook them violently as if they held some sort of disease, an obvious look of fluster covering her face.

“Okay, I know for sure now,” she huffed, wiping her hands on her lap. “I definitely won’t miss you. At all.” Even with that being said, there was no erasing the blatant shade of red that marked her cheeks.

“You don’t mean that,” Oikawa argued, fighting a grin from his lips.

She sent him a curt glare. “You sure about that?”

“Yes,” Oikawa immediately answered. Then there was a pause. “Hopefully…”

She shook her head disdainfully. “Two weeks won’t be long enough.”

No way would that be true.

He found himself downcast again at the reminder when a thought suddenly came to mind. “Wait, what about lunch? Will you be free then?”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I’ll be busy then too since practice exams are coming up.” She frowned to herself, pondering for a moment and seeming to have already forgotten about her previously short-lived frustration. “What about after your practice?”

It was Oikawa’s turn to shake his head, very glumly at that. “We’re going to be having late ones most likely. I don’t want you to have to wait that long.”

They both let out a sigh at the same time.

So it was seriously going to be two weeks then? It didn’t sound like a long time, but considering how four days felt like an eternity to Oikawa…

The pit in his stomach only seemed to grow bigger at the thought. 

“It’ll be fine, Oikawa,” the girl spoke in an obvious attempt to reassure him. “You know you can text me whenever, right?”

“You’re a boring texter,” he deadpanned. She huffed in response, much to his amusement.

There was a long pause of silence then as the reality of the situation began to sink in for the both of them.

They would both be busy. That couldn’t be helped. And though that might be true, but still…

“I want to see you before the match,” Oikawa finally stated, a definite resolve in his tone.

She tilted her head, seeming uncertain. “Won’t you be busy with practice? I don’t want to interfere with it or anything—”

“You won’t be,” he immediately answered. “June 1st, the Saturday before the match, okay? We’ll most likely only have a short practice that day. We always do that so everyone has time to rest. And it’s the weekend, so…”

His sentence wandered off as he realized he was rambling. He simply stared at the girl then, waiting for a response.

“…Okay,” she finally answered with a curt nod. She held up her pinky then, smiling at Oikawa. “We’ll meet up at the park. Let’s both make sure to work hard until then, alright?”

He smiled back, moving his own hand up before wrapping his pinky around her much smaller one. “It’s a promise.”

. . .

Later that night, Oikawa sat on his bed, feeling restless from the day’s events. He was happy to have settled the tensions between him and (y/n), and now impatient for the next two weeks to pass, but also desperate for them to not go by too fast so that he and the team could get as much practice in as possible…

It was hectic, but he was happy, and sometimes it was important not to overthink past that. 

He started browsing through his phone when he decided to take a quick picture of himself shooting a victory sign.

This is for Iwa-chan, he thought with a humorous grin as he attached the photo to a message and hit ‘send.’

He wanted to let his friend know that things turned out okay, and doing it like this was probably the most natural way he could think of. 

A minute later, there was a buzz from his phone.

[fr: Iwa-chan~, 8:09 PM]  
I’m guessing things went well today?  
I’m glad.

Oikawa grinned to himself, falling back onto his bed with a content sigh.

Yeah, Oikawa thought with a smile, I’m glad too.


	10. Chapter 10

“Okay, is it just me, or has Oikawa been playing a lot better these last few days?”

Oikawa could practically feel his ears perk at the comment. He grinned to himself, using the towel in hand to wipe at his face. 

It had been two days since he and (y/n) had rekindled their relationship and two days since they made their promise to one another. They still had a good amount of time before their planned meet up, but Oikawa was determined to live up to his word and spend his time completely focused on doing his best at practice until then. So overhearing his teammate’s comment on his gameplay definitely made him a little more than happy.

He stood by the water fountain in the hall, continuing to loiter around the corner of the court’s entrance in order to try and catch anymore stray praise.

“I’ve noticed too,” Matsukawa answered the wing spiker.

There was a short silence after this, soon followed by a thoughtful voice. “It’s probably because he can spend more time practicing now instead of studying, right?”

Oikawa nodded to himself with a knowing look on his face. The extra amount of time and effort he put on the court definitely made a difference. That being said, he was a bit worried that would lead to some suffering in his grades.

He grimaced nervously, imagining the look of disappointment (y/n) would undoubtingly hold on her face if his test scores went back to what they were before their tutoring sessions.

Oikawa crossed his arms together, his face scrunching together in frustration. Yeah…he would have to make sure to stay up a little later so he wouldn’t fall behind. 

“I’m thinking his improvement is because of something else,” Iwaizumi’s voice suddenly chimed in, sounding farther away than the rest.

“What do you mean?” Kindaichi asked the third-year, curiosity thick in is voice.

Oikawa scooted closer to the entrance, turning his head slightly so he could try and pick up Iwaizumi’s voice over the squeaking of shoes across the gym floor. “Well…let’s leave that for another time. Besides, I’m not sure he even realizes himself. He’ll need to figure it out on his own. If we spoon feed him everything, he’ll just get more spoiled.”

Oikawa frowned at that, along with that fact that his friend’s comment was quickly accompanied by immediate grunts of agreement from the other two third-years.

“But what is it?” Kindaichi asked, sounding concerned over the fact that everyone seemed to know what Iwaizumi was referring to but him.

“Not what,” the ace started, “but whom.”

And there it is, Oikawa thought with a sigh.

Yet, despite the frustrated feeling Iwaizumi’s words brought, he knew it wasn’t necessarily the accusation that bothered him. No…he knew it wasn’t that.

His thoughts brought him back to two days ago at the library, where the girl unhesitatingly asked that terrifying question. What was she to him? What were the words that could accurately describe his feelings for his dear tutor and friend? The girl he once found infuriating, and still did, but now so in a way where he couldn’t get enough.

What exactly was she to him? He had been thinking about that very question for a while now. It loomed over him like a nagging task he was sure he had to face, yet he instead chose to keep looking the other way.

Oikawa stared blankly ahead of him, remembering how the girl’s eyes were set with such an unyielding resolve as the haunting question left her lips. She held the kind of look that absolutely refused to let him break away. A look that demanded an answer—demanded the truth. Yet…

He shook his head. What was he doing? Thinking about stuff right now was pointless. It only made things worse.

Besides, there was too much for him to be happy over rather than concern himself with other thoughts. And what he had told the girl wasn’t even close to a lie. She was important to him—so, so important. Hearing the same words said back to him, with a genuine smile at that, was just…

Oikawa felt his face warm as he grinned goofily to himself.

Yeah…There was no better feeling.

“What are you doing?”

Oikawa blinked and turned his head to see Yahaba staring at him, brows pulled together in obvious confusion. He was just leaving the court area, still standing at the entrance of the room. Oikawa could only hope the rest of his teammates hadn’t noticed the second-year’s question.

“Nothing,” Oikawa started slowly, breaking gaze with the boy and quickly glancing about for an excuse.

“Oh, okay…” the boy responded, not leaving Oikawa enough time to come up with a convincing explanation. A knowing smile soon crossed the younger setter’s face, leaving Oikawa suddenly feeling wary.

“Don’t worry, I get it.” The second-year started to walk toward the bathroom then, pausing to send Oikawa a smile. “Oh, and don’t push yourself too hard, captain. You look like you might be coming down with something.”

The comment had Oikawa’s already burning face warm some more. He instinctively looked away, moving his hand to his face as if he were rubbing beneath his nose in attempt to look nonchalant. The action seemed to do the opposite of what he wanted, bringing only more attention to his already obvious embarrassment.

He made a loud ‘tsk’ of annoyance, now rubbing at the back of his head.

Yahaba laughed at that, causing Oikawa to look at him in confusion.

“I’m kidding, captain,” he smiled. “I just find it funny because I saw (y/n)-san with a similar expression the other day.” Oikawa found that mention of the girl’s name had him suddenly very interested in what the younger setter had to say, completely forgetting about the boy’s earlier slight. “I asked her if you both kissed and made up already, and she nearly turned just as red! You still have her beat, though.”

Oikawa scoffed indignantly, “Hey, don’t go around implying anything weird, now…”

“What? Weird?” The exaggeration in the younger boy’s tone made it all the more suspicious. “I wasn’t trying to imply anything…But you on the other hand might want to be a little more careful about who you give your attention to. Seriously, it could send (y/n)-san the wrong message.”

Wait, what?

Yahaba had begun walking again at that point, and Oikawa followed behind. “What do you mean?”

The younger setter raise a brow at him. “I mentioned it before already, but remember how you accepted my classmate’s homemade cookies before? She and her friend have only gotten worse with fawning over you since then. Not to mention that it’s pretty much made the rest of the girls in my class convert to ‘Team Oikawa’. They take those things seriously, you know? So just keep it in mind.”

Oikawa had to pause and think back. It wasn’t abnormal for him to receive gifts randomly from different girls, regardless of the grade. He was used to the attention. And Oikawa did recall the timid underclassmen giving him cookies—namely remembering the event so clearly because that was the same day (y/n) had come over to his house, and she was unarguably the bigger fan of the homemade treats. She didn’t seem bothered by his taking them at all. Should she have been bothered? Should it bother him that she was obviously unbothered?

At that point, Oikawa realized that Yahaba hadn’t waited for a response and had already disappeared into the restroom, leaving Oikawa to his thoughts.

And, if he were to be honest, with the experience he did have with relationships in the past, he wouldn’t question any of his exes getting jealous over a gesture such as receiving cookies. He’d be surprised if they didn’t.

“Oikawa, you finish draining the water fountain or what?”

The ace’s shout bounced to where Oikawa stood mulling over the events from the past. And that was just it, wasn’t it? He shouldn’t get too caught up comparing (y/n) in those type of situations because she wasn’t anything like the girls he had been involved with in the past. And it honestly made him sad to even think about putting her in the same category as the various number of people who were no longer present in his life (not that their particular absence was what bothered him).

Oikawa took a breath, the inhale acting as a prominent stop sign to his racing thoughts. He jogged back to the gym then, where the echoes of the squeaking shoes continued to bounce along with the slamming volleyballs. Above all, he should put his recent promise to (y/n) first. He’ll work hard now and continue to anticipate the date they chose to meetup. The setter waved at his watching teammates with a newfound determined grin stretched across his face. 

. . .

Oikawa did exactly what he set out for—he hit the ground running with rigorous practice in both the long hours of volleyball, but also in the extra bits of language review that he threw in whenever he could. It was easy at first, with the heat of motivation still burning so bright and the idea of meeting up with (y/n) feeling closer because of it. Yet, time had a funny little habit of feeling even more stretched out the closer someone got to their long-awaited event. And, of course, by “funny,” Oikawa actually meant really, really annoying. 

It was Wednesday, May 22nd, meaning Oikawa still had nine more days before his planned meetup with (y/n), which then meant that time was moving way too slowly for Oikawa’s liking. It really didn’t help that, since he and (y/n) made the promise to work hard, they have barely spoken at all. Sure, there were the occasional text messages, even some selfies (mainly his sending one, asking for a picture in return, and getting one of her cat instead). Basically, he missed her. A lot.

And it was exactly that thought process—from cursing time and its tendency to be endless to just flat out wanting to have an actual conversation with his tutor—which led to where Oikawa was now: stretched out on his bed, flat on his stomach, feet propped in the air, hair still dripping from his recent shower, and hands grasping onto his phone with a grip that practically displayed his nerves with flashing lights.

Illuminated on his screen was the contact information of the main subject of his thoughts, and his thumb hovered over the glowing green phone icon. One quick click, and he was a few rings away from what he craved so much.

Even more annoying than the topic of time, though, was anxiety and its way of stopping a person from doing even the most basic of tasks. But Oikawa has dealt with his fair share of pre-game anxious debilitation, and he knew the perfect solution:

A few clicks later, and the phone rang steadily in his hand.

“Hello?”

A gruff voice answered, exactly what he was expecting and hoping for.

“Iwa-chan, I need your advice.” 

There was a pause, and then a low sigh.

“You miss her already, huh? How long has it even been?”

Oikawa couldn’t decide whether to be more annoyed with the implication of his neediness or the fact that his friend knew the problem without Oikawa’s having to mention anything. Instead of addressing either, he decided the two could cancel each other out, and he dove into his main reason for calling.

“Would it be weird if I called (y/n)?” he shot out.

“Why would it be weird for you to call her?" Iwaizumi deflected.

Silence filled the call yet again as Oikawa failed to find a convincing answer. He could practically see the smug grin of the ace the longer he failed to answer.

“Call her, and text me whether it was weird or not after.”

Oikawa sighed. “Alright…But then I get to blame you if it's weird,” he childishly retorted, with no real reason but to prolong the inevitable.

“Blame away. I won’t hold my breath, though.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Oikawa huffed. “But, like, are you sure—”

His question was answered with a beep, and Oikawa pulled his phone away with another long breath.

Alright, go time.

He seemed to rewind right back to where he was just a minute ago before calling his friend for some encouragement. In the end, though, Oikawa knew if he had to choose between giving in to his nagging worry versus dealing with the distraction of missing (y/n), he’d rather the call be the absolute weirdest thing he has ever done than go another day with unfulfilling texts or, even worse, nothing at all.

It was that exact thought he repeated as the familiar ringing filled his ear again. Before he could overthink the situation anymore, there was a confused, “Hello?”

He was grinning at the mere sound of her voice.

“Hello?” the voice came again, sound a bit more on the worried side now.

“Ah, sorry,” Oikawa laughed. “Hey, what’s up?”

There was brief silence, and in that moment Oikawa could make out slight background noise, what sounded like music playing somewhere in the distance.

“Um, I don’t know,” she responded. “You’re the one who called, you know. Shouldn’t you start first?” The words appeared sharp, but they were delivered teasingly, with an obvious smile of its own hiding on the other side of the line.

“I just wanted to talk to you,” Oikawa spoke, letting the comfort of the conversation melt over him as he wondered what he was even worried about to begin with. He should have known it wouldn’t be weird, not when conversation comes so naturally between the two of them now.

“Oh? Talk about anything in particular, or do you just miss annoying me?”

“I always miss annoying you, (y/n)-chan~” he cooed, rolling onto his back to get comfortable on his bed as he smiled toward the ceiling. “Don’t act like you aren’t missing me too. I never took you for a liar.”

Another pause. “I do miss you.”

Oikawa blushed at this, taken aback by the forward statement despite what he had just implied about her being more of the honest type.

“Ah, yeah?” he asked, trying not to come off as flustered as he felt. “But you’re still working hard though, right?”

“Of course!” the answer was immediate, bordering on sounding somewhat insulted at the idea of her getting distracted. If only she knew. “I want to do my best so we can talk about how well we did when we meet up on Saturday.”

The familiar warmth bloomed through Oikawa yet again. “I’m glad you didn’t forget about that.”

“How could I?”

Oikawa made an exaggerated exhale. “Well, you know…You did forget about watching me practice that one time, so you never know—”

“Hey! You know I couldn’t help that!” Her response was fast and obviously flustered. Oikawa laughed in response.

“Oh, man, I really did miss annoying you,” he chuckled. “If only you were here so I could pinch your cheek too.”

Her own laughter ended up mixing with his, and if Oikawa could create a visual for the scenario, it would present his metaphorical energy bar becoming steadily fuller with every giggle and quip escaping through the speaker and to his ear. The motivation he had from the start of when they made their promise felt like it was beginning to burn just as bright.

“So, what’s that music in the background?” Oikawa asked, his hand going back to its habit of twirling at his wet hair.

“Ah—Sorry I didn’t think you could hear that,” he could hear shuffling in the background, and with a few muffled clicks, the humming sound stopped. “It’s just my studying music.”

Oikawa let a short snort of laughter slip. “You have music specific to when you study?”

“Yeah,” she replied, sounding defensive in her tone. “It’s hard to listen to just any music when you’re trying to work out problems, so I make a playlist filled with specifically soft, typically instrumental music.”

“That’s cute.”

“It’s actually really normal,” she pushed. “And a lot people find it helpful, even. For example, me.”

“Alright, alright,” Oikawa assured. “Maybe you can show me your playlist once we get back to studying after the prelims. Then we can see if it helps me at all.”

“Okay…” She sounded unsure. “Just don’t judge me for my music.”

“What, are you going to pull out classic rock instrumentals on me or something?” Oikawa joked.

“I mean, it’s a mixture of everything,” she started. “So if I get even a little sass from you, I will actually resign as your tutor.”

“Sorry, not allowed.”

“Then promise that you won’t make fun of me,” she insisted.

Oikawa feigned his exasperation with a sigh, “Okay, okay. If you’re gonna twist my arm over it.” Despite her having no way of actually seeing, he held up his pinky finger. “I promise.”

With an amused sound, she responded, “Good. It’s a promise, then.” And if he didn’t know any better, he’d think she was doing the exact same thing.

They stayed on the phone for a lot longer than anticipated, catching up on what they had been working on in the days they hadn’t been able to meet up. Oikawa realized that maybe he really wasn’t the only one overly preoccupied with thinking about the other, with all the small stories (y/n) shared about wondering about him during lunch or considering texting him more but being worried about being a distraction. He found himself glowing several times throughout her stories, wondering just how he got himself in this emotionally vulnerable position, but loving it all the same.

Eventually, the conversation began to slow down a bit, and the drag in her tone became notable. Oikawa glanced at the time on his phone, and then brought it back against his ear.

“Someone’s sounding tired,” he teased lightly. “You shouldn’t force yourself, (y/n)-chan.”

“’M not,” she mumbled, words sounding slurred. “Whud about you, Oikawa-kun?”

Oikawa brightened again because it wasn’t often she said his name in such a soft tone. “Sleepy (y/n) sounds even cuter than usual,” he mused.

There was brief silence.

“(Y/n)-chan?” Oikawa asked.

Another pause. “You always do that…,” she finally responded.

Oikawa began to feel a bit nervous. “What do you mean?”

Her answer came after another break. “You make my chest ache,” she whispered, to where Oikawa could barely hear it, but he still did, and he felt a similar sensation himself. “And you make my face warm.” 

Oikawa gave a soft chuckle at that. “Is that bad?” he answered in an equally as quiet manner.

He could hear her steady breathing as she seemed to debate on her answer. “I don’t know.”

Oikawa blinked and turned to lie on his side, facing his wall with a heavy-lidded stare. “I guess I don’t either.”

“I don’t think it’s bad,” she continued. “But I don’t know how I should describe it yet.”

Oikawa nodded to himself. “Yeah…But we can figure it out together.”

“Promise?” she hummed, and Oikawa laughed in response.

“You really like making promises now, huh?”

“With you? Yeah,” and he could just imagine her grin.

“Promise,” he smiled. “But you gotta promise that you’re going to go straight to bed now. You’ve been doing too well to fall off now because of sleep deprivation.”

She answered first with a light giggle. “Okay, Oikawa-kun. But you have to promise to text me tomorrow.”

Oikawa flushed. How was she able to be so bold sometimes?

“I mean, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to anyway,” he chuckled. “But, I promise.”

“Alright, deal.” Another moment of unsure silence followed. “Goodnight, Oikawa-kun.”

He felt warmth from the simple words, and he softly smiled. “Goodnight, (y/n)-chan. Sweet dreams.”

Oikawa moved the phone away from his ear and looked at the screen. The conversation had gone well over an hour, but it did not feel nearly that long. He couldn’t remove the grin on his face as he took a screenshot of the call time, and sent a quick text to Iwaizumi with the photo attached.

[to: Iwa-chan~, 10:40 PM]  
It wasn’t weird ♡

Oikawa put his phone up, and lay comfortably in bed with the blissful warmth continuing to radiate throughout his body. He buried his face into his pillow in his happy exhilaration. Now the only thing running through his mind was the upcoming weekend. All the hard practice had been be building toward then. Saturday, the day he can finally see (y/n) again. Then, finally, Sunday: the Interhigh Preliminaries. He felt more confident in being able to get through the remainder of the days leading up to it.

After speaking with (y/n), it really felt that easy.


	11. Chapter 11

As the Interhigh Preliminaries had gotten closer, Oikawa found he and his team were able to steadily lose themselves into the unusually high flow of practices. It wasn’t long until they made it to their last official practice: the Friday before Interhigh. They originally had planned another practice day for Saturday, but because their practice hours had taken up the entire week, the coach wanted them to take the time to rest before the start of the games on Sunday instead. 

With his exhaustion growing more and more apparent from the aching of his muscles, Oikawa didn’t think it was a bad plan at all. Rest days were just as important, after all. Though, he would more than likely still spend the majority of that day studying footage of the rival teams instead. 

The gym currently held a stern overcast, with everyone seeming to have their concentration amped to the max. The usual playful banter that came with most practices was basically non-existent. Oikawa knew it was partly due to growing nerves for some, but the serious atmosphere truly allowed the members’ talents to shine through. 

The practice ended up lasting even longer than the already extended times that had been implemented throughout the week. Everyone seemed to come to a natural, unspoken agreement to stay longer. For Oikawa personally, he was grateful for the extra time because staying busy kept his own nerves at bay. Being a third year and the captain didn’t alleviate him from the anxieties of approaching game days, unfortunately. He couldn’t help but feel the pressure of the upcoming tournament creeping on him with every day that came and went, and it seemed at an all-time high tonight. 

Sunday would be the start of his last Interhigh—one of his last chances to get to nationals. One of his last chances to beat Shiratorizawa. Of course, Seijoh would continue strong long after him, but his time there was limited. He didn’t want to rely on second chances that would come later in the year—that type of careless thinking wouldn’t relax him regardless. 

He needed to put his all into this practice because he of all people understood that results were directly correlated with the work put in leading up to game day. So, though he couldn’t help the nerves, he also knew there was no point in dwelling on them. 

But it was always easier said than done… 

“Oi, Tooru.” A pat on his shoulder pulled his attention back. Oikawa turned to Iwaizumi who stood over him, still sweating from the short scrimmage they had just finished. “You good?” 

“Getting there,” Oikawa stretched his arms out and stood, letting out a light chuckle. “You know how it can be.” 

His friend nodded. “But don’t get too into your head about it. Remember you got all of us too.” 

“Of course I know that, Iwa-chan. You're preaching to the choir.” Oikawa grinned teasingly, and Iwaizumi nudged him a little harder. 

“Ready?” he asked. 

Oikawa nodded. “Let’s go,” and they both jogged back to the bustling court. 

. . . 

Oikawa sat at his desk, clicking through various videos of teams they would be facing in the prelims to get an idea of their playstyle. His eyes meticulously studied the movement of the opposing teams, and it was only between changing the videos where he found time to think back toward the end of practice that night. 

He felt off. Not abnormally, but the nerves were getting to him a little. It may have been the finality of it all starting to set in. It wasn’t detrimental to his actual game, though. Only Iwaizumi seemed to notice, commenting on their way home that Oikawa should try to sleep early. 

That was about two hours ago now. And he knew he really should be getting to bed, but he also knew that going to bed now would just lead to his tossing and turning around on the old mattress and staring aimlessly toward a dark ceiling. So, he decided to keep busy instead. But… 

He glanced at the time again and sighed. He really didn’t want to screw up his sleep schedule with the prelims being on Sunday, so he really should just bite the bullet and try to sleep. Plus, there was something else he was looking forward to before Sunday. 

Oikawa took his headphones off and placed them on top of his desk as he walked to his bed with his phone in hand. He sat on the edge and turned on his phone, smiling at the image that displayed. (Y/n)’s familiar, flushed face squished against his own. 

He let out a sigh. Though he was looking forward to seeing her tomorrow, he also knew his nerves were getting the better of his emotions overall. He didn’t want to worry her. 

He stared at his lock screen picture again before making a frustrated huff and moving his phone away. 

He would try his best to get out of his anxious feelings for tomorrow, at least while he was with her. He had been looking forward to seeing her for so long anyway, so it would be a waste to be in a weird mood. 

With that, he reached from his bed for the light and switched it off. He lay face down into his pillow and willed himself to sleep, slowly, but surely, slipping into slumber. 

. . . 

The echoing sound of a bouncing volleyball resonated throughout the dark room. Oikawa stood in the center, effortlessly ceasing the movement of the ball as he gripped it between his hands. He let out a shaky breath and stared determinedly at the familiar object before him. 

This was it. It was all on him now. 

He started to raise his arm, preparing to toss the ball up, but a sudden weight in the air kept him still. He grimaced at the unbelievable pressure suddenly surrounding him. The heavy sensation threatened to push him down on the spot—it was impossible to move and just as difficult to remain standing. He almost couldn’t bear it. The only demanding thought in his head ordered him to fall. 

It was then he heard a shout. First just one, and then another. It soon became a chorus of familiar noise—the anticipation of the crowd, the monotonous cheering of his classmates, the encouraging calls of his team. It slowly enclosed around him, quickly fusing into a single roar of unfathomable noise. He attempted to look up to find the source, but the surrounding pressure prevented him from doing so. He was instead forced to endlessly stare down at the ball in hand. 

The roaring around him quickly transformed into the piercing sound of a blowing whistle, only it wouldn’t stop. It simply rang out—thoroughly piercing Oikawa until all he knew was that noise. That deafening, unbearable sound. 

He fell to his knees in pain, desperate for relief. A curse escaped from his grimacing lips, and he fought with rigid determination to remain up. 

He couldn’t give up now. This was it. This was all he had. 

But he just as soon found his hand slapping to the ground as he crippled from the pressure. 

_Get up,_ he thought furiously. _Get up, damn it._

The loud shrill abruptly ceased from ringing, and it was in that moment of silence his hand slipped, completely knocking him to the floor. His face slapped against it with a resonating bang, the throbbing pain spreading over his body in the moment. The crushing weight over him continued to press him down. A quiet sound of agony barely managed to slip from him as he attempted to call out. 

His desperation was fruitless, and just as quickly as his struggle began, he found himself drifting again, until there was not much to feel at all. 

. . . 

He had woken up that morning in a jolt, drenched in sweat. A great start that followed with his morning trip to the bathroom, where he found the added bonus of his dream: dark creases beneath his eyes. Where did the term eye bags even come from? Oikawa wasn’t sure, but what he was positive of was the fact that he definitely had them. Now that he thought about it, “bags” was an accurate description for the extra accessories that came along with the restless night. 

The dream was not one that was completely out of the blue for him. He had experienced variations of that dream before, but he definitely felt as though the severity of the one from last night was a result of the higher stakes that the Interhigh Prelims brought with it. That, plus the fact that this was his last year, making limited time another added stressor. 

He let out deep a breath. 

There was no point in continuing to worry about things he could not control. Oikawa had spent countless hours preparing with his team. As long as he knew that he did his absolute best to prepare, it was pointless continuing to fret over it. It took a shake of his head, and the release of another deep breath to feel the tension start to leave his body. 

Tomorrow was game day regardless, and he knew he and his team were more than ready. And they would need him at his best, so he didn’t have time to overthink. Instead, he could focus on making it to today. Saturday. 

Finally, after what had felt much more than just two weeks, he had made it. 

The day before the start of Interhighs, the day he could rest, and the day he could finally see (y/n) again. It was a day full of many things—including a heavy, heavy tiredness that pulled at every part of his body—but, again, concentrating on the good here. 

Oikawa leaned back in the bench he sat in and exhaled a deep breath. He was currently waiting in the familiar park he had spent part of the night with (y/n) not too long ago. They had occupied the park’s swing set during that time as Oikawa ate a generous amount of milk bread, courtesy of the shorter girl. That was one of the first nights he really started to see his tutor as more than just that, and it felt like the gap between then and now was much, much longer than only a few weeks. 

“Oikawa-kun...” 

He snapped his attention toward the direction of the voice. 

Seeing her in her casual everyday wear would still take some getting used to, Oikawa thought, as he took in the girl before him. His staring eyes didn’t seem to go unnoticed. She fretted with her outfit and avoided his gaze for a second before hesitantly deciding to meet his stare. 

“Uh, hey,” she spoke again, the uncertainty still thick in her tone. 

Oikawa blinked once, twice, and his blank expression slowly but surely melted into one of joy. “(Y/n)-chan,” he smiled. “I missed you.” 

She returned the warm look, an unquestionable tint filling her cheeks. “I missed you too.” 

Comfortable silence floated between them as they both seemed to take a moment to simply enjoy the reunion. And maybe it was a bit dramatic to even call it that, but he would be lying if he said that the bliss he felt in seeing her again wasn’t an overwhelming one. 

Oikawa patted at the empty spot beside him. “Saved it especially for you.” 

She laughed and closed the distance between them. As she confidently plopped beside the setter, the girl continued to smile up at him. “Thanks, it’s perfect.” 

Oikawa fought the urge to shift his arm behind her, despite the almost magnetic pull that begged him to do just that. He opted to lean forward in the seat instead, lacing his fingers together and resting his elbows on his legs as he looked over her. 

She turned and seemed to do the same to him, only, their close proximity seemed to make other things more obvious to her. 

She started with a look of concern. “Oikawa-kun, are you okay?” 

“Ah,” he rubbed the top of his lip with his finger, an instinctual urge to attempt to cover the blatant exhaustion on his face. “Despite what my face may be telling you, I’m fine.” 

Her unfazed expression was response enough. 

“No, really. I was fighting some nerves throughout the week, and last night I had terrible sleep because of it, but I really am fine now.” He met her unfaltering, worried stare and held up his pinky in response. “Promise. I’m good now.” 

Her mouth puckered uncertainly, but she gave in with a sigh and hooked his pinky with her own. “Okay, I believe you. But is there anything that’s still bothering you? You can talk to me about it if you want to...” 

Neither of them seemed to be in a hurry to break the contact made with their interlaced finger, so Oikawa kept his hand propped as he broke their shared gaze and shifted into a more thoughtful expression. “Well, nothing is bothering me particularly now...” 

She sat silent, prompting more from him. 

“But what had been on my mind was just the pressure that comes before big games,” he admitted. “It’s like stage fright, I guess.” 

“I understand how there’s probably a lot of pressure on you,” she started softly. “But you work your butt off. Do you feel like you’re not ready?” 

Oikawa shook his head. “It’s not that, I know the team and I have been working hard. I think it’s mostly the fact that I’m in my last year, y’know?” 

He unraveled his pinky from hers and shifted to simply holding his hand on top of her own, gently resting it on the bench but still refusing to break the contact. 

“It’s my last year, so these big games are starting to hold a little more pressure to them. I know there’s still the Spring Tournament as well, but...” He frowned to himself, considering the teams he knew he would be facing soon. Understanding the challenges he and his team would have to overcome together. “I don’t want to rely on second chances.” 

Oikawa broke free from his momentary trance at the soft touch of his tutor shifting her hand beneath his and lacing their fingers together. His face warmed at the contact. 

“Oikawa-kun.” There was a pause that continued until his eyes met hers again. He looked surprised to see her stare wide with a glowing sincerity. “You’re really cool.” 

He blinked once, assessing her firm look of certainty for a second longer before he let out a puff of laughter. “Seriously?” he chuckled, using his free hand to lightly pinch at her cheek. “You don’t think I know that already, (y/n)-chan~?” 

Light laughter broke free from her lips and the sounds of their delight mixed together softly until dying back into a new, more comfortable quiet. He lightly caressed his thumb over her hand as they continued to sit peacefully together, watching the scenery around them. 

It was later in the day, but the sun was still out, so the park before them was bustling with life. Children occupied the swings that they sat in weeks before. Parents stood sprinkled around the area, either patrolling their own kids or having conversations with one another. Couples wandered hand-in-hand, passing Oikawa and his tutor frequently. 

Oikawa’s face glowed with the understanding of how others would think the same of him and (y/n). Well, what else would they think? He didn’t really want to let the idea bother him today, though. He didn’t want to overthink it. He knew it was selfish of him, but today... 

He glanced back over to the girl beside him, who held a soft expression on her face as she similarly observed the movement around them. Her lips turned into a small smile that still managed to reach her glowing eyes, and it held the power to have him mirroring a similar expression. 

Yeah, Oikawa decided. For today, he would choose to be a little selfish. 

. . . 

Their time together seemed way too fast compared to how long he had anticipated that moment, but he was happy nonetheless. They had spent the remainder of the time catching up on the small details in the days leading up to that one. Oikawa’s stories, of course, mostly revolved around practice, but he still made sure to include the study time he had thrown in at night when he was able. His tutor followed a similar, predictable pattern of stories about most of her time being related to studying or other academic preoccupations. 

The atmosphere surrounding them felt different that day in general. Their usual banter was there, but the embarrassment that usually accompanied some of the physical teasing that tended to happen between them was replaced instead with quiet fluster and shy acceptance. 

It had taken Oikawa by surprise when his tutor had initiated pulling them out from their shared seat, hand-in-hand still, and leading them down the road after he had offered to walk her to the station. It led to where they currently were—not too far from their destination, fingers still intertwined, and both seeming to understand the approaching end by the slowing of their pace. Oikawa took it as a silent acknowledgment that neither of them wanted to rush their goodbyes. 

Yet, the extra time inevitably led to extra thinking. He had already told himself earlier he didn’t want to over think it—overthink them—or what they were both doing right now. But he also knew there were some things he just flat out didn’t want to acknowledge. 

He didn’t want to think about what type of consequences he would eventually have to face later given his selfish choices today. He didn’t want to pay attention to the noticeable drumming of his heart when his tutor’s hand would sometimes tighten around his own. 

He especially didn’t want to admit how much his insides stirred when their eyes met and he could find a similar warmth in her gaze. A similar yearning, even. 

Ah, the insults Iwaizumi would have for him if only he were here and could read his mind. It wouldn’t feel undeserved. 

Finally in front of the station, they had come to a stop, “Thanks for walking me, Oikawa-kun. I, uh,” she looked toward her feet and then back up to him again. “I liked being able to catch up with you. It was fun.” 

He nodded in agreement and lightly squeezed at her hand. “Well, since you’re starting the sap fest...” she giggled at the quip, and he met her with a grin before continuing. “I wanted to thank you for meeting with me today. And for listening to me earlier. You helped me a lot, actually.” 

She seemed surprised by this and then settled with a small smile. “I’m glad. I’m here if you ever need me, Oikawa-kun.” 

Silence followed after and their gazes lingered. Oikawa didn’t know what the consequences of today could be, but he also knew he wouldn’t have much time to think about it once she left. Once she was gone, and once he was home, his mind could really only shift into doing one thing—preparing for tomorrow. 

He couldn’t help but slightly worry about the creeping anxiety of change, though. Acknowledging the different types of change sent him down an even more dangerous path of overthinking. The uncertainty of their future in that type of decision pushed him away from looking into it too much more in that moment. 

“So, when will the Interhigh be over?” Her question pulled him from his spiraling thoughts. 

“Uh,” he hummed and thought for a second. “Tuesday is the last day.” 

She seemed hesitant before starting again. “...Do you think that we could meet at the park after it’s finished?” 

“Are you prepared to deal with my shitty mood if we meet after?” 

“Are you saying you’re going to lose?” she asked with a raised brow. 

“Of course not, stuuupid,” he ruffled her hair, temporarily breaking their connected hands to do so, but then just as quickly grabbing it back into his grasp after. “I just know I’m going to be an annoyingly sore winner, so be prepared for that, ‘kay?” 

“Ah,” she giggled, face glowing red. “I should have guessed that’s what you meant.” 

“Also, though, it might be a little late since the guys and I sometimes get ramen after.” 

She nodded understandingly. “I’ll be at the school pretty late, so you can just message me since it’s nearby anyway.” 

“It’s settled then,” he grinned. “And I’ll be expecting more milk bread since you aren’t able to come cheer me on at the games.” 

“Hey, you know I would if I could,” she pouted. Oikawa poked at her nose and really, really had to fight the urge to pull her into any more of an embrace than their already locked hands. 

“I know, my cute (y/n)-chan~” he mused. 

She frowned, but in what seemed to be in reaction to the sound of the approaching train rather than his comment. “I should get going.” 

“Yeah, it’s late,” he nodded, though somewhat glumly. “So, your mission now is to text me once you get home safely. Can I rely on you?” 

“Sure thing, nerdy-kawa.” 

“I really don’t want to hear that from you,” he chortled. 

The girl stuck her tongue out at him and finally pulled away from his grasp. She paused. “Oikawa-kun. Good luck.” she held up a clenched fist to him. He smirked, returning the gesture. 

She smiled at the motion and finally turned, sending one final wave before disappearing from his sight as she hurried down the stairs. 

Oikawa knew what happened today would need to be something he addressed eventually, but he also knew he needed some more time to really think about what exactly their actions meant. What it might lead to. Good or bad. 

But, for now, he decided to focus on her words of encouragement instead. Because with that blessing alone, he felt motivated and ready. 

Tomorrow was the start of the Interhigh Preliminaries. It was as simple as remembering that fact which made him able to set off with a familiar resolve. 

. . . 

The preliminaries seemed to come and go too quickly, a blur of games that only seemed to slow down while standing in the court. Oikawa found that nothing threw time off for him quite like big games days. Volleyball itself was just major whiplash—everything happened so fast. You spend 90% of your time training, and that small 10% goes toward the games—the results of your practice. Thinking about it like that turned some people away, but it did nothing to sway how Oikawa felt. 

The first day always passed by the fastest, though—be careful to blink or you’ll miss it type of situation—but Monday was a different story. Fighting Karasuno was a whole other game of its own. Their team just brought a completely foreign feel to the game that Oikawa found frustrating, yet exciting. Oikawa worked off trial and error with them. His team learned the weaknesses of their opponent and quickly found a way to neutralize the threat. First Tobio, then the little flying shrimp. They were full of surprises and always, always exhausting to battle. 

Despite the challenge his former genius teammate and the rest of Karasuno presented, they just were not fully meshed. Seijou was fine and polished. Karasuno was still figuring out their edges. It was impossible to pass through flawlessly, but it wasn’t able to get in the way of Oikawa’s true anticipated competitor: the irritatingly amazing Shiratorizawa. 

And it was Tuesday, the last day of Interhigh, where Oikawa and his team faced off against the powerhouse school. Against Ushijima. 

Iwaizumi always said that all they could do was fight their hardest. Oikawa felt that would make the loss sting more, but he knew his friend was right. Despite the years of frustration Ushijima had brought him, Oikawa understood their goals were the same, and he had to stay focused. He wanted to pave their way to nationals. That’s all he really wanted. 

But it was that day Oikawa got yet another reminder that, sometimes, the mere brute force of a genius can easily overcome not just ninety, but one-hundred percent of the hard work of someone without those same qualities. Someone like Oikawa. 

Seijou had lost their first ticket to nationals to the infamous Shiratorizawa. Despite Oikawa’s original wishes, they would have to take their fight to the Spring Tournament in hopes of a second chance. 

In the face of his broken-hearted underclassmen, Oikawa refused to show despair. He spouted the words he was familiar with, words that normally accommodated a harsh defeat. A phrase he knew all too well at that point: 

We keep moving forward. 

He was able to stay strong in front of the younger players. With Iwaizumi and the other third years by his side, it was easy—fun, even—to trash talk Ushijima and his stupid strength and even stupider, solemn personality. It was also motivating to focus on the future with his team—to focus on what they could do to prepare for their next challenge. 

After a few more hours of banter and consoling the underclassmen, Oikawa left the dinner a bit early in order to keep his promise of meeting with his tutor, texting her as he waved goodbye to the familiar faces in the restaurant (and ignoring the obnoxious shouts of good luck from the third years). The text didn’t seem to come soon enough, though, for Oikawa found himself at an empty park. 

He reserved their spots on the swing set and stared blankly at the ground below him, kicking at it as he waited. He then looked up to observe the lonely sight of a park abandoned of all but him. 

The squeaking of the swing rhythmically swayed along with the slight blowing of the trees nearby. He was lost in thought, feeling as though now, in his moments of solitude, time finally caught up with him again. The preliminaries were no longer in control of the sporadic fast-forwarding of time, as it so readily displayed the last three days. He was in the present time again, and now, nothing could stop his thoughts from racing in his reflection of the games. No filter to stop the bubbling regret. No Iwaizumi to punch him out of the serious expression that no doubt marked his face. 

He heard her approaching footsteps before he saw her. 

His tutor approached him timidly, but with a soft smile that seemed to melt his core. She looked worried. Observant. She definitely already knew the results of today. 

Oikawa tried his best to flip the switch. He smiled and opened his arms toward her. “Come here and comfort me, (y/n)-chan!” Not even a second passed before he chuckled to himself, dropping his arms and adding, “Just kidding, I’m fine. No need to look at me like you just saw a puppy get kicked...” 

His sentence trailed off and he couldn’t bring himself to meet her gaze again—her stare that felt more like a mirror that he just didn’t have the energy to face right now. 

The crunch of shifting sand grew louder with the sudden flurry of steps and Oikawa didn’t have time to look up before he was wrapped in an embrace. Arms around his neck, and her face burying into his shoulder. He sat frozen in place, unsure of how he should move next. 

“...But you’re not kidding, right?” she breathed into his ear, voice shaking, maybe from nerves or maybe from the overwhelming flow of raw emotion he could feel emitting from her. His breath hitched in his throat. 

“It’s okay, Tooru...” she continued, holding him tighter. 

His body melted at these words, as if she muttered just the right spell to unravel the tension in him that he had not even been aware of. His arms wrapped around her waist, recklessly pulling her closer to the warmth of his own body. 

Such a heavy sense of comfort that was not new, but different, for Oikawa overwhelmed him and unlocked something within him that he had been keeping in for those long three days. In that moment, the emotions kept piling until they flowed to the forefront of his mind—pouring out in waves. Frustration at his struggle against Karasuno. Anger and despair from the loss against Shiratorizawa. Disappointment in himself, and the pain of having felt as though he had let his team down. 

Oikawa understood more than anyone how focusing on these emotions for too long was fruitless and even crippling to a player. He knew this. But Oikawa also understood that these emotions were real. Real not just to him, but for any player—any person—who suffered a loss in something that they had poured their blood, sweat, and tears into. 

He would bounce back, he knows. Without a doubt, Oikawa was just as skilled at moving forward in search for growth as he was at making the perfect toss for his teammates. 

But Oikawa also could not deny that the support from his tutor, his dear friend, who he held in his arms was special. And above every other emotion that began to wash out of him, the one that grew stronger than the rest, causing him to embrace her so tightly, was the immense gratitude he felt for her. 

Yet again, time seemed to pause. Every breath he took was of her, and their intermingled breathing mixed with the slight creaking of the swing was the harmony that danced around them as they embraced. 

“(Y/n),” he muttered, a slight muffle to his voice from being pressed into her shoulder. 

There was a lot he could say. The swell in his chest was evidence enough for him to no longer ignore it. Despite understanding his feelings, there was only one thing he truly wanted to get across in the moment, to this girl who he cared for so deeply. 

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the last! Thank you so much if you have read this far! I made a playlist for this story (that I may or may not have spent way too much time on heheh...): [TTIHM Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5kqjEHlWbOklJpGBR9ZA6h?si=vhgURe2MRoGoevxZLpyvsA)
> 
> Please feel free to check it out and tell me how you think it fits! ( ^ _ ^ )  
> I imagined that the first four songs were the Opening/Ending 1 and Opening/Ending 2 like if it were an anime lolol *o* And the rest is kinda just to replicate the mood of the story throughout...I specifically imagined a silly montage of Oikawa and reader-chan missing each other a lot in those two week they are apart when I listen to "Don't leave me" LOL


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